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Division of Welfare and Supportive Services E-125 Medical Assistance Manual MAGI BUDGETING 23 Oct 01 MTL 04/23 UNEARNED INCOME

When an individual receives and returns a check (e.g., UIB, RSDI, VA, etc.) to the issuing agency, determine whether to budget the payment using the following guidelines:

a. If there is evidence the check was incorrectly paid and it is verified the check was returned, do not budget the amount as income.

b. If the check was correctly paid and was voluntarily returned, budget the amount as income in the month received.

Do not count RSDI, SSI, VA, or other such benefits which a member of the household is entitled to receive if the benefits are paid to someone outside the household who:

a. receives the funds, and

b. does not make the money available to the beneficiary.

If the payee provides a portion of the funds to the beneficiary, count the amount made available in cash or by vendor payment as unearned income to the beneficiary's assistance unit. Any portion of the funds the payee keeps for their own use is budgeted as unearned income to the payee's assistance unit.

If the income is not made available, the individual must follow the requirements for pursuing legally obligated income (refer to manual section C-500).

E-128 ZERO INCOME

If the household reports zero income for a required member:

1. Verify the zero income of that member using the best available information (not all inclusive): a. Check the available electronic interfaces used by DWSS; or b. Check if other active programs (SNAP, TANF, etc.) already have the income verified;

2. At this time zero income will not show in a data source that is currently retained in the case record.

All situations of zero income will need to be documented using the documentation template.

Note: The annual redetermination of Medicaid eligibility requires a new verification of income. Do not re-use a verification of income provided with a previous medical assistance application to process the current redetermination.

E-130 BEST ESTIMATE OF INCOME

A reasonable method must be used when determining current monthly income for any income not expected to be received on a monthly basis. This may include a 30- or 60-day prior period as used for other DWSS programs such as TANF or SNAP (see E&P A-640), or it may be based on available electronic data sources and information gathered during processing. Workers must document the methodology used to calculate the best estimate