SR 23-32 Dated 09/23

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES – Bureau of family assistance (bfa)

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

 

 

FROM THE OFFICE OF:

Director of Division of Economic & Housing Stability (DES), Karen Hebert

BFA SIGNATURE DATE:

September 15, 2023

FROM THE OFFICE OF:

Director of Division of Medicaid Services (DMS), Henry Lipman

DMS SIGNATURE DATE:

September 15, 2023

AT (OFFICE):

Bureau of Family Assistance

Division of Medicaid Services

TO:

All BFA Staff

All DMS Staff

SUBJECT:

Medicaid Eligibility for Former Foster Care (FFC)

RETROACTIVE EFFECTIVE DATE:

January 1, 2023

 

 

SUMMARY

This Supervisory Release (SR) releases an update to the Former Foster Care (FFC) Medical assistance category.

 

This policy does not apply to SNAP, Child Care Scholarship, other forms of medical or any Financial Assistance eligibility.

 

FORMER POLICY

NEW POLICY

Medicaid coverage is automatically provided to former foster children, defined as children who were in foster care and enrolled in NH Medicaid as of the age of 18, as confirmed by the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF).

Medicaid coverage is automatically provided to former foster children, defined as children who were in foster care, enrolled in Medicaid and turned 18 on or after January 1, 2023 regardless of the state the youth lived in at the time they aged out of foster care.

Self-attestation of enrollment in Medicaid and aging out of foster care in another state is accepted.

Individuals eligible for this category are those who are over age 18 but under age 26, and are not eligible for any other category of medical assistance.

Regardless of the state the former foster youth ages out of, individuals eligible for this category are those who turned 18 on or after January 1, 2023, are under age 26, and who can be eligible for but not enrolled in, any other category of medical assistance.

 

BACKGROUND

Previously, under section 1902(a)(10)(A)(i)(IX) of the Social Security Act (the Act), youth formerly in foster care in a state other than their current state of residence are not eligible for the FFC category of medical. Section 1002 of the Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (“the SUPPORT Act”), modifies the Act to establish that individuals are eligible for the Former Foster Care (FFC) category of medical if they were receiving Medicaid while in foster care, were under the responsibility of any state and meet all other eligibility criteria.

 

Section 1002(a) of the SUPPORT Act also provides that individuals who meet the eligibility requirements for the FFC category of medical may be enrolled in that category even if they meet the eligibility requirements for another mandatory eligibility category, so long as the individual is not actually enrolled. These required changes are effective for individuals who reached age 18 on or after January 1, 2023.

 

POLICY

Effective January 1, 2023, NH must provide coverage to individuals who meet the following criteria:

·         Turned 18 on or after January 1, 2023;

·         Enrolled in Medicaid and have aged out of foster care in any state on or after January 1, 2023;

·         Not enrolled in any other mandatory category of medical assistance; and

·         Under age 26. 

 

When an application is received that indicates that the applicant was in foster care at the age of 18, the Family Service Specialist (FSS) can verify the applicant’s birth date to be sure they turned 18 on or after January 1, 2023 and use the application as self-attestation to open Former Foster Care medical assistance. There are no income or resource tests for FFC, and these individuals are always a household size of one.

 

Once this is established the FSS will:

 

DCYF and other supporting agencies will be responsible for advising the individual to check off the foster care box when completing the applications to make sure they open in the correct category. They will also provide outreach and literature to individuals instructing them how and where to apply.

 

NEW HEIGHTS & NH EASY SYSTEMS PROCEDURES

The following changes have been made to New HEIGHTS and NH EASY:

 

·        The Foster Care section on the Additional Demographics – Other Demographics tab has been updated from a checkbox to a drop down field labeled “State”. This new dropdown has two options, “New Hampshire” or “Out of State”. DCYF workers will have the ability to choose either dropdown while FSS profiles will be able to select “Out of State” only.

 

If “Out of State” is selected the date span entered must include the period of time the individual aged out of foster care. Note the individual is only eligible for FFC MA if they are eligible but not enrolled in any other type of Medicaid.

 

·         The F1 Screen Help page has been updated to reflect the change. 

·         NH EASY Application: The following questions were added for each individual:

 

Were you in foster care at age 18 or older?   Yes   No

·         If yes: generate a drop down for the applicant to choose “out of state”

¨       If out of state, add the question: Date foster care ended?

 

·         New HEIGHTS Changes:

§    Once the applicant checks off “yes” to being in foster care and chooses the “out of state” drop down, this information would be input into New HEIGHTS in the additional demographics-other screen.

§    Grey out the unnecessary begin date and only allow the end date to be input when the applicant chooses the “out of state” option.

§    Once the client puts the date into NH EASY for the date they aged out of Foster care, this information would be input into New HEIGHTS in the additional demographics-other screen.

§ Case would run in real time.  

Also, see the System Alert dated 4/28/2023 for more information about New HEIGHTS changes that were made.

 

DESCRIPTION OF REVISIONS MADE TO FORMS

No form updates are being released with this SR. However, the following forms have been updated to reflect these changes and released with SR 23-27.

 

BFA Form 800, Application for Assistance

Edit to form adding additional question under Section I:

·      Was anyone in your household in foster care at age 18 or older?  Yes  No

·         If yes, who?

·         State:

·         Date foster care ended:

 

BFA Form 800MA, Application for Health Coverage & Help Paying Costs

    Edit to form adding additional question under question 15:

·       Were you in foster care at age 18 or older?   Yes  No

·         If yes, in what state?

·         Date Foster Care Ended?

 

Due to accepting self-attestation from the client, there are no other changes to any other forms.

 

POLICY MANUAL REVISIONS

Revised Medical Assistance Manual Topics

                              Introduction

PART 221             FORMER FOSTER CARE CHILD MEDICAL ASSISTANCE (MAM)

Section 221.01     Verification: Former Foster Care Child MA (MAM)

 

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

No client notification is planned or needed.

 

TRAINING

No special training is planned or needed.

 

DISPOSITION

This SR may be destroyed or deleted after its contents have been noted and the revised manual topics released by this SR have been posted to the Online Manuals.

 

DISTRIBUTION

This SR will be distributed according to the electronic distribution list for BFA policy releases. This SR, and revised Online Manuals, will be available for agency staff in the Online Manual Library, and for public access on the Internet at https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sr_htm/sr.htm, effective October 2, 2023.

 

BFA/DMS:sl