The Mississippi Division of Medicaid responsibly provides access to quality health coverage for vulnerable Mississippians.

Medicaid Fact Sheet Healthier Mississippi Waiver

HEALTHIER MISSISSIPPI WAIVER

Healthier Mississippi Waiver Basics Enrollment in the Healthier Mississippi Waiver started Jan. 1, 2006.

Effective July 24, 2015, the maximum number of individuals who can be enrolled in this waiver may not be more than 6,000 at any given time. If enrollment reaches 6,000, the waiver is closed to enrollment until the number of individuals enrolled is fewer than 6,000.

Who is Eligible? To qualify for the Healthier Mississippi Waiver, you must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• You cannot be covered by or entitled to Medicare (certain conditions apply). • You must be age 65 or older. • If you are under age 65, you must have a disability using the same rules as the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. • You cannot be pregnant. • Your total monthly income can be no more than 135 percent of the federal poverty level.

 Disabled children can qualify for this program. The income limit is based on the parents’ income and the number of other children in the family.

If at any time you do not meet the requirements as stated above, eligibility for the Healthier Mississippi Waiver program ends. Who is Eligible? continued... In some cases, you may qualify for other Medicaid coverage, for example:

• If Medicare coverage begins, you will be reviewed for eligibility in a Medicare cost-sharing coverage group, or • If you become pregnant, you will be reviewed for Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women, or • If you enter a long-term care facility, you will be reviewed for coverage in a long-term care category. Resources Resources are assets or what a person owns. Certain types of resources are not counted toward the resource limit, these include:

• home property, • certain property that produces income, • one vehicle (up to two vehicles for children under 19), • household goods, • personal property up to $5,000, • life insurance up to $10,000 in face value, and • burial funds up to $6,000 if kept in a revocable form. Resources that count toward the resource limit include: • money in the bank, • the value of stocks, bonds or other investment accounts, • the value of non-home property that does not produce income.

BACKGROUND The Mississippi Division of Medicaid is a state agency that has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout one central office and 30 regional offices.

Medicaid provides health coverage for eligible, low income populations in Mississippi. Eligible members do not directly receive money from Medicaid for health benefits. Medicaid is separate from Medicare.

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HEALTHIER MISSISSIPPI WAIVER DEMONSTRATION EXTENSION REQUEST

FULL PUBLIC NOTICE AND COMMENT PERIOD

Posted July 19, 2022

Pursuant to 42 C.F.R. Section 431.408, public notice is hereby given to the submission of a Medicaid proposed demonstration renewal request of the Healthier Mississippi Waiver (HMW), effective October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2028. The Division of Medicaid is requesting no changes with this renewal request. HMW has operated since 2006.

The current temporary extension of the HMW 1115 Waiver #11-W-00185/4 will expire on September 30, 2023.

Program Description, Goals and Objectives The Division of Medicaid’s HMW is designed to provide Medicaid services to aged, blind or disabled individuals who have no Medicare coverage and who are not otherwise eligible for Medicaid.

The goal is to improve the overall health status of individuals who, without the HMW, have very limited access to health care by providing primary and preventive care and to demonstrate budget neutrality based on an aggregate dollar cap that cannot exceed the cumulative target.

Goals and Objectives for the renewal are listed below: Goal 1: To improve access to comprehensive health care services for individuals who are no longer covered under the Mississippi Medicaid State Plan and meet all other eligibility requirements for the HMW.

Goal 2: To increase the utilization of podiatric, eyeglasses, dental, and chiropractic services by ten percent (10%) each demonstration year.

Goal 3: To demonstrate budget neutrality based on an aggregate dollar cap growth rate allowed.