Children With Medically Fragile Needs Medicaid Waiver

The goal of this waiver is to assist families in keeping their child at home.

This waiver is "parent driven" meaning the parent determines what their family can and cannot do.

The waiver is designed to assist qualifying medically fragile children between the ages of 3 and 18 years old.

The child needs to be living at home, be Medicaid eligible, and be able to meet Level of Care criteria for nursing home.

The following waiver services are in addition to what the ND Medicaid State Plan covers: Transportation, Dietary Supplement, Individual and Family Counseling, In Home Support, Equipment and Supplies, Environmental Modifications, Institutional Respite, and Case Management.

To begin the process, contact the Program Manager at 701-328-3701 or 800-755-2604 and complete an application.

Any questions may be directed to: rsi5@srt.com

Senate Rejects $250 Checks for People With Disabilities

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A measure to give some 57 million elderly people, veterans and persons with disabilities a $250 check was rejected by the Senate on Wednesday, a setback for the powerful seniors' lobby.

President Barack Obama has called for Congress to approve the payments to make up for their benefits not increasing this year, but the Senate defeated it 50 to 47.

Read more....

Earned Income Tax Credit

The Earned Income Tax Credit is a tax credit designed to put money back in the pockets of working people with low-to-moderate incomes. This tax credit can reduce your taxes and help you keep more of what you earn. Filing for the Earned Income Tax Credit means that you could receive a refund payment from the Internal Revenue Service.

To get the EITC, you must meet certain requirements and file a tax return, even if your income from working is low enough that you are not required to file a return.

The EITC income limits for Tax Year 2009 are as follows:

Earned Income and adjusted gross income (AGI) must each be less than:

· $43,279 ($48,279 married filing jointly) with three or more qualifying children

· $40,295 ($45,295 married filing jointly) with two qualifying children

· $35,463 ($40,463 married filing jointly) with one qualifying child

· $13,440 ($18,440 married filing jointly) with no qualifying children.

Filing for and receiving a refund payment from the Earned Income Tax Credit has no effect on many other public benefits you may get. In most cases, the Earned Income Tax Credit payment will not be counted against your eligibility for Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), food stamps, low-income housing, Workers with Disabilities (WWD) Medicaid Buy-In or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

Because the income is a federal return it will not impact any federal programs you participate in, but it is possible that it could impact some of the state funded programs you participate in.

Any questions may be directed to: rsi5@srt.com

Important Changes to the Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy

Individuals who enroll in the Medicare prescription drug program (Medicare Part D) may get assistance in paying the premiums for this coverage by applying for the Part D low-income subsidy. SSA also refers to this program as “Extra Help”.

Beginning January 1, 2010, changes in the law make it easier for some people to qualify for Extra Help with their Medicare prescription drug plan costs. Under the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act:

· SSA will no longer count as a resource any life insurance policy; and

SSA will no longer count as income the help beneficiaries receive regularly from someone else to pay their household expenses—food, mortgage, rent, heating fuel or gas, electricity, water, and property taxes.

In addition, beginning January 1, 2010, when beneficiaries apply for Extra Help, they also can start the application process for the Medicare Savings Programs. These are the state programs that provide help with Medicare Part B premiums and other Medicare costs – what we often refer to as QMB or SLMB. Social Security will now notify the State when beneficiaries apply for Extra Help and the State will contact beneficiaries to help them apply for a Medicare Savings Program.

For a complete explanation of the changes to Medicare Part D low-income subsidy, go to
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10040.html

Any questions may be directed to: rsi5@srt.com

Compassionate Allowance List Grows by 38

Compassionate Allowances are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that clearly qualify for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disability benefits. It allows the agency to electronically target and make speedy decisions for the most obviously disabled individuals.

This is the first expansion since the original list of 50 conditions - 25 rare diseases and 25 cancers - was announced in October 2008. The new conditions range from adult brain disorders to rare diseases that primarily affect children.

New Compassionate Allowance Conditions

1. Alstrom Syndrome
2. Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia
3. Ataxia Spinocerebellar
4. Ataxia Telangiectasia
5. Batten Disease
6. Bilateral Retinoblastoma
7. Cri du Chat Syndrome
8. Degos Disease
9. Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
10. Edwards Syndrome
11. Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva
12. Fukuyama Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
13. Glutaric Acidemia Type II
14. Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), Familial Type
15. Hurler Syndrome, Type IH
16. Hunter Syndrome, Type II
17. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
18. Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa, Lethal Type
19. Late Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses
20. Leigh’s Disease
21. Maple Syrup Urine Disease
22. Merosin Deficient Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
23. Mixed Dementia
24. Mucosal Malignant Melanoma
25. Neonatal Adrenoleukodystrophy
26. Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses, Infantile Type
27. Niemann-Pick Type C
28. Patau Syndrome
29. Primary Progressive Aphasia
30. Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy
31. Sanfilippo Syndrome
32. Subacute Sclerosis Panencephalitis
33. Tay Sachs Disease
34. Thanatophoric Dysplasia, Type 1
35. Ullrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy
36. Walker Warburg Syndrome
37. Wolman Disease
38. Zellweger Syndrome

Any questions may be directed to: rsi5@srt.com

How Earnings Affect Your SSI Payments

The amount of your SSI payments is based on how much other income you have. When your other income goes up, your SSI payments usually go down. So when you earn more than the SSI limit, your payments will stop for those months. But, your payments will automatically start again for any month your income drops to less than the SSI limits. Just tell Social Security if your earnings are reduced, or if you stop working.

If your only income besides SSI is the money you make from your job, then Social Security does not count the first $85 of your monthly earnings. Social Security deducts from your SSI payments 50 cents of every dollar you earn after the $85 deduction. (The $85 deduction is made up of a $20 per month general income exclusion, which is first applied to any unearned income, and a $65 per month earned income exclusion).

Example: You work and earn $1,000 in a month. You receive no other income besides your earnings and your SSI.

$1,000 - $85 = $915

$915 ÷ 2 = $457.50

Social Security would deduct $457.50 from the maximum SSI ­payment that you may receive as an individual, which is $674 in 2010. You would therefore receive an SSI payment of $216.50 for the relevant month.

By working, you would have gross income of $1,216.50 ($1,000 of gross earnings plus SSI of $216.50). If you do not work, you would just have an SSI payment of $674.

This information was taken from the SSA Publication, “Working While Disabled—How We Can Help.” The earnings rules are different for SSDI benefits.

NOTE: It is important to keep in mind that certain "Work Incentives" may be available to help lower one's countable earnings that are used for the above SSI calculation. This results in an increase cash payment to the beneficiary. To explore all available "Work Incentives" that may be available, please contact your area CWIC.

Any questions may be directed to: rsi5@srt.com

SSA - "Working While Disabled—How We Can Help"

The 2010 edition of the publication, “Working While Disabled—How We Can Help,” is now available on Social Security’s website.

See http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10095.html.

This publication provides an “at a glance” overview of work incentives and an easy-to-understand description of how earnings affect Social Security disability benefits and SSI payments.

Any questions may be directed to: rsi5@srt.com