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Group Members in this Chapter for an example). Combination assistance units arise in households where some members are one type of unit and other members are a different type of unit. The SSR must determine all potential program types under which each individual applicant may be eligible for Medicaid and test each individual against each potential eligibility criteria. AR: An AR assistance unit includes at least one child under age 21 (including an unborn child). Non-disabled children ages 19 and 20 who are not themselves parents or caretakers can only be eligible for Medicaid based on the TANF Standard or the Medically Needy Families and Children category. Children under the age of 19 can be eligible for Medicaid based on the TANF Standard, Foster Care/Department Ward/Adoption Assistance Recipient category, the Medically Needy Families and Children category, or the Poverty Level Families and Children category. (Children under 19 whose incomes exceed the various AR standards may be eligible under the AX type.) While parents residing in the home with a dependent child do not have to be included in the assistance unit, parents living in the home with a dependent child are provisionally included for purposes of determining financial eligibility (see Chapter 5: Whose Income is Counted and Chapter 2: Whose Assets are Counted in Part VI). Caretaker relatives and unrelated caretakers of minor children are not required to be in the group and are not included provisionally if they choose not to apply for benefits on their own behalf as a caretaker of a child.

Foster Care/Department Ward/Adoption Assistance Recipient

Department wards are automatically eligible for MA if they are not in penal institutions. A Department ward is any child who:

 has been committed to, or placed with, CFSA by a court order due to abuse or neglect, and  has been placed in either a foster care home or a licensed child-care institution by the Department.

No other individuals are included in a unit with a Department ward.

Foster parents may apply on behalf of foster care children (see Section 1.6.2: Filing an Application/Accessing Benefits on Behalf of Another Individual or Group). They do not have the option of being included in the group with the foster care child but could otherwise be eligible.

Current MA eligibility for Department wards begins with the first day of the month the court order was received by the Department. Applications are not required for Department wards, (including those eligible for IV-E), for current MA, but applications are required for retroactive MA.

Any child for whom foster care maintenance payments are made is eligible for MA. The child is eligible for MA in the state where s/he is physically present even if the foster care payments are made by another state.

A foster child committed by the court to a juvenile penal facility can only receive Medicaid during an inpatient hospital stay.