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Aged, Blind and Disabled Manual Section: Financial Eligibility Requirements Policy Manual Number: 110.040 Chapter: ABD Deeming of Income and Resources

August 1, 2025 Division of TennCare 3

v. General assistance programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; vi. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs payments based on need; and vii. State or local government assistance programs based on need. l. Spouse: A spouse is: i. An individual’s legally married spouse; ii. An individual determined by the Social Security Administration (SSA) as eligible to receive Social Security benefits as the spouse of another; or iii. An individual’s “holding out” spouse. 3. Ineligible Parent(s) to Eligible Child(ren) Income Deeming a. Overview When a blind or disabled child under age 18 is living with his ineligible parents(s), a portion of the parents’ income may be deemed available to the child and counted as unearned income to the child in determining his TennCare Medicaid eligibility. Income belonging to a parent receiving public income-maintenance payments is not deemed to an eligible child. Note: Parent to child deeming does not occur for a child applying for Institutional Medicaid, including Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) and the Department of Disability and Aging (DDA) Waiver applications, except for a child under 18 who is requesting HCBS services in the Employment and Community First (ECF) CHOICES program, with certain exceptions. See the Parent-to-Child Deeming section in the Employment and Community First CHOICES policy for more information. b. Ineligible Parent Income Deeming When deeming applies, the ineligible parent(s) receives income disregards and allocations to meet her needs and the needs of other children living in the household. Child and parental allocations are deducted from the parents’ income before any income is deemed to the applicant/enrollee. i. Ineligible Child Allocation When deeming from parent to child, the parent receives an ineligible child allocation for each ineligible child residing in her home. The parent does not receive an ineligible child allocation for any child in the home who receives public income-maintenance payments. Changes in family composition, such as birth, death, entering or leaving the household or no longer meeting the definition of a child, will impact deeming.