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Update Medicaid medically needy limits and switch on AR, IA, IL, NJ and ND - #10374

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@hua7450 hua7450 commented Oct 21, 2026

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Closes #10357
Closes #10358

What and why

PolicyEngine's medically needy pathway for aged, blind and disabled people (is_medically_needy_for_medicaid) had two problems. Five states that run the pathway had it switched off, and most limits still held 2018 values. This PR switches the five states on and updates the limits in 13 states. Where a state ties its limit to the poverty guideline or the SSI federal benefit rate, the PR encodes that rate in place of a dollar amount.

Pathway switched on (senior and disabled flags)

State Limits (monthly income; assets) Source
AR $108 / $217; $2,000 / $3,000 (unchanged) AR DHS Quick Reference ("AABD Adult Spend Down $108.33 $216.66")
IA $483 / $483; $10,000 (unchanged) Iowa Admin. Code 441-75.8, pp. 20 ("SSI-related persons"), 24 (MNIL $483 / $483)
NJ $367 / $434; $4,000 / $6,000 (unchanged) DMAHS Medically Needy fact sheet
IL 100% FPL; $17,500 from 2023-05-12 PM 15-06-02-a ("The Community Standard is 100% of the Federal Poverty Level"); PM 15-08-00; PM 07-02-01 ("Effective 05/12/2023, the asset limit for Medical cases is $17,500")
ND 83% FPL, then 90% FPL from 2024-01-01; $3,000 / $6,000 (unchanged) Manual 510-05-85-40 ("equal to 90% of the poverty level"); ML 3702 (83% in April 2023); SPA ND-23-0034 (effective 1/1/2024); NDAC 75-02-02.1-26

Limits tied to a federal amount

State Before After Source
KS $475 / $475 SSI rate from 2025-07-01 ($994 / $1,491 in 2026) CMS approval of KS-25-0019, p2 (effective July 1, 2025) and p46 (disregards the difference between the MNIL and the SSI federal benefit rate); KEESM F-8 (01-26): independent living $994 (1) / $1,491 (2)
WA $750 / $750 One-person SSI rate for one and two people WAC 182-519-0050(5) ("the one-person federal benefit rate (FBR) ... or the MNIL listed in the chart below, whichever amount is higher"); in force since WSR 12-20-001
MN $810 / $1,098 80% FPL, 81% from 2019-06-01, 100% from 2022-07-01 Minn. Stat. 256B.056, subd. 5c(b), 4(a), 1c(a); Laws 2017, 1st Sp., ch. 6; Laws 2019, 1st Sp., ch. 9; EPM 2.3.3.4
UT $1,012 / $1,372 (2018) 100% FPL Utah Admin. Code R414-304-9(2); Utah Code 26B-3-108(9)(b)
WI $592 / $592 100% FPL from 2019-09-01 Wis. Stat. 49.47(4)(c)1; Ops Memo 19-26; MEH 39.4.1 ($1,330.00 / $1,803.33 from 2/1/2026)
NY $842 / $1,233 $934 / $1,367 in 2022; 138% FPL from 2023-01-01 GIS 22 MA/11; SPA NY-23-0001

Dollar limits updated

State Before After Source
CT $523 / $696 $653 / $879 (2022-07-01), $700 / $946 (2024-01-01), $723 / $980 (2024-03-01), $835 / $1,128 (2025-03-01), $851 / $1,153 (2026-03-01) SPAs CT-22-0031, CT-24-0003, CT-24-0006, CT-25-0013 and CT-26-0006 (p7 of each); DSS chart 3/1/26
DC $652 / $652 $780.58 / $821.67 (2023), $809.08 / $851.67 (2024), $837.19 / $881.25 (2025), $856.58 / $901.67 (2026) 29 DCMR 901.1 (2003); DHCF notice ($780.58, 2023); DHCF fact sheet ($809.08, 2024); KFF 2026 ($857 / $902)
NH $591 / $675 $888 / $1,033 (2023-01-01), $916 / $1,066 (2025-01-01), $939 / $1,093 (2025-07-01) SPAs NH-23-0029, NH-25-0012 and NH-25-0019 (p7 of each)
RI $903 / $947 Each January 1 from 2019 to 2026, ending at $1,200 / $1,242 210-RICR-40-00-3 §3.2(A)(8) and its 2020 version; SPAs RI-21-0004 (p4) and RI-22-0003 to RI-26-0001 (p7)

Asset limits updated

State Before After Source
CA $2,000 / $3,000 $130,000 / $195,000 from 2022-07-01; no limit in 2024–2025; $130,000 / $195,000 from 2026-01-01 ACWDL 21-31, 22-25 and 25-14 (p8 lists the aged, blind and disabled medically needy aid codes)
IL $2,000 / $3,000 $17,500 / $17,500 from 2023-05-12 PM 07-02-01
NY $15,150 / $22,200 $16,800 / $24,600 (2022), $30,182 / $40,821 (2023), $31,175 / $42,312 (2024), $32,396 / $43,781 (2025), $33,038 / $44,796 (2026) GIS 22 MA/11 p2; GIS 23 MA/02, 24 MA/01, 25 MA/03 and 26 MA/05 attachments, p2

How the model applies them

  • New variable medicaid_medically_needy_income_limit (person, annual). It returns one of three amounts:
    • fpg_rate times the poverty guideline for one or two people, when the state's fpg_rate is above zero;
    • otherwise, ssi_rate times the SSI federal benefit rate (individual or couple rate), when the state's ssi_rate is above zero;
    • otherwise, 12 times the monthly dollar limit.
  • The individual or couple choice follows the marital unit, as in medicaid_optional_senior_or_disabled_income_limit (42 CFR 435.602). Draft Count blind people and use the individual or couple in the Medicaid medically needy test #10370 moves the pathway's income and asset sums to the marital unit as well; the two PRs touch different lines of is_medically_needy_for_medicaid.py.
  • New limit.income.fpg_rate (IL, MN, ND, NY, UT, WI) and limit.income.ssi_rate (KS, WA). These files list only the states that use them. NY, WI and KS carry a zero share before their switch dates.
  • New flag limit.income.couple_uses_individual_limit, true for Washington only. Washington's MNIL chart gives the one-person benefit rate to households of one and two people. Kansas's F-8 table gives couples the couple rate.
  • The dollar files drop IL, MN, ND, UT and WA, whose rates apply from the files' first date (2018-01-01). Their 2018 dollar figures match the rate times the 2018 guideline or benefit rate, rounded up to the dollar.

Not confirmed against a primary source

  • DC: DHCF publishes only the one-person level ($780.58 for 2023 and $809.08 for 2024). The couple levels and the 2025–2026 values follow the method in 29 DCMR 901.1 and its table: the two-person level is 50% of the two-person guideline, and the one-person level is 95% of that. This method reproduces both DHCF figures and KFF's 2026 figures, which KFF rounds to $857 / $902. Sources give values by year only, so the parameter dates them January 1.
  • ND: no North Dakota document says when 90% replaced 83%. The manual shows 83% in April 2023 and 90% in April 2024. SPA ND-23-0034 (effective 2024-01-01) aligns the medically needy standards at 90%. Manual letter 3776 (1/1/2024) and the table in ML 3790 point to the same date, so the parameter uses 2024-01-01.
  • NH: KFF 2026 lists $926 / $1,073. The CMS-approved SPA NH-25-0019 and NH's current manual tables show $939 / $1,093 from 2025-07-01, and the PR uses those.
  • AR: the Arkansas policy manual could not be retrieved, because the DHS site blocks downloads. The values come from the DHS quick reference chart.
  • IL: IDHS does not state when it applies each year's new guideline. Illinois's Department on Aging says the figures post in early April.

Limitations

  • These variables are annual. They use the poverty guideline dated January 1 of the year. The states adopt new guidelines on their own schedules: MN July 1, WI February 1, ND April 1, Utah in March, and NY back-dated to January 1.
  • States round to whole dollars (MN, NY and ND round up), but Wisconsin uses cents. The model does not round, so it can differ from a published limit by less than $1 a month.
  • Connecticut set different limits by region from July 2021 to June 2022. This PR does not encode those regional amounts, so Connecticut keeps $523 / $696 until 2022-07-01.

Out of scope

  • Michigan (issue Update Michigan SSI-related Medicaid asset limits and ABD pathways #8453).
  • Regional limits in LA, VA and VT.
  • Medically needy groups for pregnant women, children and parents.
  • California's DHCS asset limit FAQ says the non-MAGI asset limit drops to $21,000 / $31,000 on 2027-07-01. I could not read the amended WIC 14005.62, so this PR does not encode it.

Test plan

  • New medicaid_medically_needy_income_limit.yaml: one case per state at its new limit, plus Kansas before its July 2025 switch.
  • New cases in is_medically_needy_for_medicaid.yaml:
    • a senior in each of AR, IA, NJ, IL and ND whose income exceeds the limit before medical expenses and meets it after;
    • CA and NY seniors under the new asset limits.
  • Updated an existing Kansas case in medicaid_medically_needy_medical_expenses.yaml. Under the 2026 limit ($11,928) the old income passed both ways. The case now uses countable income of $15,000, so it still distinguishes deducting pretax premiums once from deducting them twice.
  • Source conflicts: not applicable.
  • make format (ruff)
  • Changelog fragment in changelog.d/
  • CI passes (tests were not run locally)

No file in tests/policy/baseline/partners/ changes. The partner Medicaid cases in these states are seniors who already qualify through the aged, blind and disabled pathway, and the medically needy pathway applies only to people outside every other pathway.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

- Switch on the senior and disabled medically needy flags for AR, IA, IL,
  NJ and ND.
- Add medicaid_medically_needy_income_limit, which applies a share of the
  poverty guideline (IL, MN, ND, NY, UT, WI) or of the SSI federal benefit
  rate (KS, WA) in place of a dollar limit; Washington applies its
  one-person limit to couples.
- Update dollar limits in CT, DC, NH, RI and NY (2022), and asset limits in
  CA, IL and NY.

Closes PolicyEngine#10357
Closes PolicyEngine#10358

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

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