You asked if the 2007 legislature increased the Medicaid medically needy income limit.

The Office of Legislative Research is not authorized to give legal opinions, and this report should not be construed as one.

Several bills were proposed during the 2007 regular session to increase the income limit for the Medicaid medically needy program, hence decreasing the amount of excess income individuals would have to spend down to qualify for Medicaid. None passed.

But PA 02-2, June Special Session, increases the benefits for families receiving Temporary Family Assistance (TFA) by the average increase in the consumer price index for urban consumers (CPI-UC), effective July 1, 2007. And since state law ties the medically needy income limit (MNIL) to the TFA benefit (CGS §17b-261(a), that act also increased the MNIL.

According to DSS' Kevin Loveland, TFA benefits rose 3. 2% on July 1 (reflecting the average monthly increase in the CPI-UC from 2005 to 2006). State law sets the MNIL at 143% of the “benefit amount paid to a person with no income under the TFA program in the appropriate region of residence. ” Currently, the MNIL for a single person is $ 476 per month in most parts of the state (143% of $ 333). The 3. 2% increase would raise the MNIL by about $ 10 per month. This means that individuals in a medically needy spend-down status should see the amount they must spend down decrease by $ 10 per month. And individuals applying for Medicaid as medically needy will now have a higher income threshold to meet, perhaps forestalling the need to be placed in a spend-down status.

Although the law now appears to require DSS to use the new, higher income limit, according to Loveland, no money was appropriated for this purpose. DSS is currently holding discussions with the Office of Policy and Management to determine how to proceed.

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