|  | Healthcare Industry | Medicaid

Qualifications for Georgia Medicaid

Georgia has a number of programs under Medicaid to provide medical assistance to financially disadvantaged citizens. All programs have specific income limits, under which residents must fall in order to qualify. Most programs also have revenue limits that cannot be exceeded. All applicants for Medicaid in Georgia must provide documentation of U.S. citizenship or qualified alien status.

  1. Aged, Blind and Disabled Individuals

    • Residents of Georgia who are over the age of 65, legally blind or disabled may qualify for Medicaid, depending on their income and resources. Resources include the value of things such as certain types of property, investments and assets. There are four specific categories of eligibility for individuals who are over 65, blind or disabled: those who have extremely low income and resources, those receiving Supplemental Security Income, anyone in a nursing home or receiving at-home community care services, and Georgia residents with incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level and limited resources.

    Right from the Start Medicaid Participants

    • Right From the Start Medicaid (RSM) was designed by the state government in Georgia to help pregnant women, newborns and children in families with very low income. There are four groups of Georgia residents who are the targets of the Right from the Start Medicaid program: pregnant women and infants, families with children under the age of one, families with children ages one to five, and families with children ages six to 19. Each of these categories has different income requirements linked to the federal poverty level for qualification and the requirements change according to family size, so that a family of four can have a larger income than a family of two and still qualify.

    Medically Needy Individuals

    • The Medically Needy program in Georgia provides assistance for pregnant women and children as well as aged, blind and disabled residents who have incomes that exceed that required for qualification in other programs. This program allows anyone with high medical costs and/or unpaid medical bills to deduct those costs from their income. If the adjusted income falls below the medically needy income level, the individual will qualify for assistance under this program.

    Terminally Ill Individuals

    • Low income residents in Georgia with a terminal illness who are not expected to survive beyond six months may qualify for assistance from the state with medical bills, as long as they agree to receive hospice services through a Medicaid hospice provider.

      Georgia Department of Community Health
      2 Peachtree Street, NW
      Atlanta, GA 30303
      404-656-4507
      georgia.gov

Medicaid - Related Articles