Medicaid Integrated Health Care Coverage, SSI Financial Eligibility Determinations (210-RICR-40-00-3)

Regulation Authority :

Chapters 40-6 and 40-8 of the Rhode Island General Laws, as amended; Title XIX of the Social Security Act

Purpose and Reason :

All SSI recipients are automatically eligible for Medicaid. The State has agreed to determine the eligibility of persons who have an SSI characteristic – 65 and older, blind or disabled – but do not qualify for cash benefits using the SSI methodology and in a manner that is no more restrictive than the way it is applied for SSI. For the purposes of this chapter, the methodology applies to adults with an SSI characteristic – often called SSI lookalikes – who have income at or below the SSI eligibility standard of about 74.5 percent of the FPL as well as those in the State’s optional coverage group for low-income elders and adults with disabilities and all populations that qualify for MN eligibility under the Medicaid State Plan. The SSI methodology also applies to persons seeking Medicaid LTSS as indicated in this section.
B. The basic tenets of the SSI methodology are established in the rules for determining eligibility for SSI are set forth in the Social Security Administration’s regulations at 20 C.F.R. § 416.101, et seq.

Numbers included describe benefits/eligibility

Brief statement of Reason for Finding Imminent Peril :

These amendments reflect this year’s COLA increases as well as the 2021 SSI and Spousal Impoverishment Standards. This will need to be filed as an emergency regulation in order to be compliant with 1/1/21 effective dates