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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.