The Serving the Health Information Needs of Elders (SHINE) program has created a chart of eligibility guidelines (PDF) for health-related public benefit programs, including some of the less familiar programs like Foster Care and the MassHealth Frail Elder Waiver. Unless otherwise noted, guidelines in this chart are for clients aged 65 and over. Most guidelines became effective March 1.
The SHINE program provides information, counseling and assistance to Medicare beneficiaries and elders who have questions about any of their numerous health insurance and prescription drug options. To find a local SHINE counselor—or be trained as a SHINE counselor—call 1-800-AGE-INFO and choose menu option 3.
To sign up for the SHINE "Flash" email newsletter and receive regular updates relevant to your elder clients, send a request to shineflash@fchcc.org.
PCA Program details
Thank you so much for the link to the SHINE eligibility charts. However, there is 1 area that could be confusing in some settings. The listing for “PCA Program” is correct if you are looking at someone who is 65 or older. However, the PCA Program itself is NOT limited by age. PCA consumers may be all ages – even infants. The confusing part is that the consumer must be on MassHealth, and if that consumer happens to be 65 yrs old or older, there is a greater income disregard, and therefore a higher income standard than someone younger than 65.
And, not wishing to complicate this even more, but if someone 60 yrs old or older is on the 300% Waiver Program through an ASAP, they also get Standard MassHealth and then could also be eligible for the PCA Program. If you will note on the chart, the income limits for the 300% Waiver Program are considerably higher than the PCA Program. I know we live in a very complicated world, especially when health insurance comes into play, but I just thought these issues were important enough to bring to your attention.
Updated chart
The link above was updated with a new chart on 5/26/09 because of slight changes to income and asset guidelines for some programs.
I am told this info is also known as the "Pink Chart!"
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