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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 4

West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 230 Chapter 4 Income

4.16.4.D.1 Financial Responsibility In order to deem income correctly, it is necessary to determine who in the home is financially responsible for each household member. The Social Security Act limits financial responsibility for Medicaid purposes to legal spouses and legal parents. Persons related to or associated with a dependent child as a stepparent, grandparent, noncitizen sponsor, legal guardian, or in any way other than as a parent, are not financially responsible for the child. When income is deemed to a parent from a stepparent, no portion of the amount deemed to the parent is deemed to the children. Only if there is financial responsibility from one person to another or others can that person's income be deemed. Legal spouses are defined in Section 5.1. Legal parents are natural or adoptive parents. 4.16.4.D.2 General Deeming Instructions Deeming is most often accomplished by including the income of financially responsible persons in the total income of the Income Group (IG) and applying the AFDC-Related Medicaid disregards and deductions to that income. However, some case situations require a different method of deeming, as described below. 4.16.4.D.3 Deeming When There Is No Stepparent, Caretaker Relative Other Than a Parent or Major Parent (MP) ➢ When No Dependent Child Has Income The non-excluded income of the parent(s) is the only income counted. This income is then subject to the AFDC-Related Medicaid disregards and deductions, unless the parent, or one of the parents, is an SSI-Related Medicaid client. In this case, the SSI-Related Medicaid disregards and deductions are applied to his income and the remainder is added to the income of the other parent, after the AFDC-Related Medicaid disregards and deductions have been applied to the other parent's income. NOTE: A Major Parent (MP) is the parent of a parent under the age of 18 (minor parent (mp). The MP must live in the same household as the mp and his child.