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SNAPCERTIFICATION MANUAL –SECTION 6000 6500 Medical Deduction 6510 Allowable Medical Costs

6510Allowable MedicalCosts SNAP Manual 01/01/2021 Each category of allowable medical costs is explained below. 1. Attendants, home health aides, childcare attendants for children living with a disability, or homemakers: These costs are deductible when such services are necessary due to the age, disability, or illness of a person aged sixty (60) or older or individuals living with a disability. - In addition to salary costs, an amount equal to the maximum SNAP benefit amount for one (1) person will be deducted if the household provides the attendant (or attendants) with more than fifty percent (50%) of the meals served in the household in a month. For example, two (2) attendants come each day. Therefore, the household is providing a meal to an attendant at each mealtime. The full SNAP allotment for one (1) person will be deducted even though neither attendant takes more than fifty percent (50%) of his or her meals in this home in a month’s time. - The amount of the meal related deduction is the maximum SNAP benefit amount for one (1) person that is in effect at the time of the household’s certification or recertification. If a new basis of issuance (NBI) occurs, the eligibility worker is not required to update this deduction until the next scheduled recertification or annual review. - When the costs of an attendant could either be deducted as a dependent care expense or as a medical expense, the costs will be handled as a medical expense. If a mother pays dependent care costs for two (2) or more children, but not all the children are living with a disability, only the portion of the expense paid for the care of the eligible child or children will be allowed as a medical expense. When the amount paid for the care of the eligible child or children is not identifiable, the entire expense will be allowed as a dependent care deduction. See SNAP 6400. 2. Corrective Devices: Corrective devices are items such as, but not limited to, the following: - Dentures: full or partial; - Braces worn on the teeth for orthodontic purposes; - Eye glasses and contact lenses prescribed by a physician skilled in eye diseases or by an optometrist; - Hearing aids (including batteries for the operation of the hearing aid); - Prosthesis; - Corrective braces worn on the limbs; and - Corrective shoes and orthotics when prescribed by a doctor orother health care professional.