Medicaid

One of MACI's goals is to keep seniors, the disabled and the public in general informed up-to-date on critical governmental proposals and decisions that could or will impact their healthcare benefits, insurance plans or decisions.  Below are some of the most recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Social Security Administration, Medicare or Virginia Department of SocialSevices and Kaiser Family Foundation news releases or articles impacting the Medicaid Program. 
 

U.S. Federal Poverty Guidelines Use to Determine Financial Eligibility For Certain Federal Programs

There are two slightly different versions of the federal poverty measure: poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines. The poverty thresholds are the original version of the federal poverty measure.  They are updated each year by the Census Bureau.  The thresholds are used mainly for statistical purposes — for instance, preparing estimates of the number of Americans in poverty each year.  (In other words, all official poverty population figures are calculated using the poverty thresholds, not the guidelines.) Poverty thresholds since 1973 (and for selected earlier years) and weighted average poverty thresholds since 1959 are available on the Census Bureau’s Web site.  For an example of how the Census Bureau applies the thresholds to a family’s income to determine its poverty status, see “How the Census Bureau Measures Poverty” on the Census Bureau’s web site.

The poverty guidelines are the other version of the federal poverty measure. They are issued each year in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  The guidelines are a simplification of the poverty thresholds for use for administrative purposes — for instance, determining financial eligibility for certain federal programs. The poverty guidelines are sometimes loosely referred to as the “federal poverty level” (FPL), but that phrase is ambiguous and should be avoided, especially in situations (e.g., legislative or administrative) where precision is important.  Click here to learn more.