What Are the Income Qualifications for the Healthy Families Program?

Healthy Families is a program administered by the California Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board to provide health insurance to children and teenagers who are not covered by private health insurance and who are not eligible to receive California Medi-Cal coverage. Eligibility into the program is determined by income levels set by the federal government in the Federal Income Guidelines (FIG).

Federal Income Guidelines

• The Federal Income Guidelines is an annually adjusted matrix that sets the poverty level in the United States. The guidelines are set by the Department of Health and Human Services and influence many federal and state social programs. The federal poverty level for one person in the lower 48 United States and Washington, D.C., as of the 2009 FIG, is $10,830. Families can calculate what the poverty level for their family size is by adding $3,740 for each additional family member.

Family Income Levels

• Eligibility into the Healthy Families program is determined by an income matrix displayed on the Healthy Families website. Families with as few as one child can qualify for the program with a gross monthly income of $1,806 to $2,257. For each additional child, the eligible maximum income increases by $779. For example, a family with one child has a maximum eligible monthly income of $2,257; a family with two children has a maximum eligible income of $3,036, a $779 increase.

Pregnant Mothers

• Women who are at least six months pregnant are also able to be covered under the Healthy Families program, as long as they meet income eligibility requirements. According to the Healthy Families application, pregnant women are considered to be two people in the calculation of family size, as the pregnant mother and the unborn child are both counted as individual family members. The full application package can be downloaded from the Healthy Families website. If the baby will be eligible for coverage after he is born, the new mother must enroll the baby for coverage within 30 days after the birth of the newborn.