SR 97-08 Dated 03/97

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY

This SR releases new policy governing NHEP/FAP eligibility, and also retroactively implements Food Stamp policy simplifying the requirements under which siblings living together may be certified as separate food stamp households. Revised Family Assistance Manual pages incorporating the new policies are also released with this SR.

NHEP/FAP Eligibility Changes

 A redefinition of "dependent child" to mean a child who is living in the home of a specified relative and who is under the age of 18, or under the age of 20 if a student in a secondary school or the equivalent;

 An increase from $1,000 to $2,000 in the amount of resources a financial assistance recipient may have;

 Elimination of the value of "nonessential household items" when determining resource eligibility of applicants and recipients;

 Exclusion of interest, dividend and royalty income paid directly to clients from countable resources; and

 Denial of financial assistance eligibility for the entire assistance group when any member fails to provide or apply for a Social Security number.

This SR releases new Form 242, The 60 Month Limit on NHEP or FAP Financial Assistance: What You Need to Know, an informational pamphlet describing the 60 month limit on receipt of NHEP/FAP financial assistance benefits. It also releases revisions of current Forms 758, 789, and 811 to reflect new policies and obsoletes Form 788. New EMS procedures are being implemented, including a new EMS-generated code identifying whether a case is eligible for financial assistance under NHEP or FAP. This code will also cause program information to appear on any notices of decision related to the financial and related medical assistance case.

Note: Eligibility for Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) and Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA) for noncategorically eligible refugees is not affected by these changes.

Simplified Definition of Food Stamp Household: Treatment of Siblings

In a separate policy change, federal Food Stamp regulations issued in September, 1994, simplified the definition of food stamp household to allow any siblings who live together, purchase and prepare food separately, and are not under the control of another household member, to be certified as separate households. Previous policy required all siblings living together to be included in the same household regardless of food purchase and preparation arrangements unless at least one sibling was elderly or disabled or a sibling was a parent of minor children living in the same household. In effect, this change removed any special treatment of siblings living in the same household. This policy is being implemented retroactively to 9/94.

POLICY

Upper Age of Dependent Child

For the purposes of eligibility for NHEP/FAP financial assistance, and categorically and medically-needy medical assistance, a dependent child is a child under the age of 18, or 18 but under the age of 20, living in the home of a specified relative, and enrolled and attending a secondary school or the equivalent (see Note below). The previous definition allowed AFDC financial assistance up to age 18 or while 18 if the individual was a full-time secondary school student and was expected to graduate before turning 19. The "date of graduation" no longer impacts eligibility.

This age-limit change also applies to EMA, categorically and medically needy CSD, and HC-CSD ("Katie Beckett") eligibility.

Note: The definition of "student" is not changed by this policy. See FAM 207.07.

Exception: The age limit for Poverty Level Child Medicaid remains 19.

Resource Eligibility Changes

The following changes to resource policy for NHEP/FAP applicants and recipients are effective with this SR:

 Limit Increase: Recipients of NHEP/FAP financial assistance are now allowed up to a limit of $2,000 of countable resources. Applicants continue to be limited to a total of $1,000 in resources. For purposes of this policy, recipient includes anyone who currently receives financial assistance or has received financial assistance in 1 of the last 6 months. Previous policy limited countable resources to $1,000 for both applicants and recipients.

 Note: This change affects NHEP/FAP financial assistance cases only. The resource limit for NHEP/FAP Categorically-Needy Medicaid-only cases continues to be $1000 for both applicants and recipients.

 Household Resources: For NHEP/FAP applicant or recipient households, the value of all household items, both essential and nonessential, is now excluded when determining resource eligibility for TANF financial assistance and related Medicaid-only cases. Previous AFDC policy distinguished between household items deemed to be essential (excluded as resources) and nonessential (countable as resources). This aligns NHEP/FAP policy with resource policy on household items for the Food Stamp program.

Note: Because household resources are no longer counted in determining resource eligibility for NHEP/FAP, Form 788, AFDC Resource Declaration Form, is obsolete. Form 789, Resource Information Sheet, has been revised to eliminate reference to Form 788 and remove "Personal Effects" as a countable resource for TANF eligibility.

 Interest, Dividend, and Royalty Income: Interest, dividend, and royalty income from countable resources, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or countable trusts, that is paid directly to the client rather than automatically reinvested in the source, is now excluded income for TANF financial assistance and related Medicaid-only cases. Previous policy counted all of these income types as unearned income if paid directly to the client.

Note: This change does not affect directly paid interest, dividend, and royalty income from excluded resources, which remain countable unearned income to the case.

New Penalty for Failure to Enumerate:

Failure by NHEP and FAP financial assistance applicants or recipients to provide or to file for a Social Security Number without good cause will now result in denial or closure of the entire financial assistance case. Previous policy provided for the denial of benefits only to the noncomplying individual. The more stringent penalty was stipulated in RSA 167:79 III to encourage compliance with enumeration requirements.

Note: The new penalty applies only to the financial assistance case. For all other programs, current policy and penalties remain in effect. See FAM 309.

FORMS

Form 242, The 60 Month Limit on NHEP or FAP Financial Assistance: What You Need to Know, is an informational pamphlet explaining the federally mandated 60 month time limit on receipt of financial assistance under NHEP/FAP. It also discusses potential exemptions from the limit.

Form 758, Notification of Social Security Enumeration, has been revised to include notification of the new penalty for financial assistance applicants and recipients who fail to enumerate without good cause.

Note: District Offices must give copies of revised Form 758, effective 3/31/97, to TANF financial assistance households at all application and redetermination interviews on or after 3/31/97. An initial supply of revised Form 758 has been distributed to District Offices. Additional supplies are available from Logistics.

Form 789, Resource Information Sheet, has been revised to remove references to obsoleted Form 788 and to remove "personal effects" as a countable resource. The information on the back of Form 789 has also been updated with the new resource limits for NHEP/FAP. Revised Form 789 is being printed at this time; as soon as printing is completed, a supply of revised Forms will be sent to District Offices. At that time, discontinue use of the previous version.

Form 800, Application, has been revised to include the new NHEP/FAP financial assistance recipient resource limit. Several minor technical corrections were also made. District Offices may continue to use current supplies of Form 800, released 2/97 by SR 97-4, until depleted. At that time, begin using the version released by this SR. Effective immediately, District Offices should destroy any version of Form 800 released prior to 2/97.

Form 811, Eligibility Determination Worksheet, has been revised to include new resource treatments of vehicle values and life insurance previously released in SR 97-3 and to update terminology. District Offices may continue to use current supplies of Form 811 until depleted. At that time, begin using the version released by this SR.

PROCEDURES

Upper Age of Dependent Child

District offices need not take any action resulting from the change in the upper age of a dependent child. EMS has been reprogrammed to allow any dependent child with codes E or F in field I-25 (Student Indicator) to remain as open members of the AP case until age 20.

Exception: Continue to offer CSD and HC-CSD medical assistance recipients the opportunity to apply for APTD 2 months prior to their 18th birthday. However, if a CSD or HC-CSD child is a full-time high school or equivalent student, do not automatically terminate medical assistance effective with the child’s 18th birthday as required by previous policy. Allow the child to remain eligible for medical assistance until the 20th birthday, if so desired and if the child continues to meet all other eligibility requirements.

Resource Changes

Limit Increase: Systems changes to the way EMS compares resources to limits for financial assistance applicants and recipients have been completed:

 For all current recipients, and for applicants who received financial assistance in a least 1 of the prior 6 months, EMS will total all countable resources and compare this total to the new $2000 resource limit;

 For all others, EMS will compare countable resources to the $1,000 limit when determining initial eligibility. If the case is opened for financial assistance, EMS will automatically assign the $2,000 limit to the case.

Household Resources: At the next redetermination or case action, remove any household resources coded 771. For new applicants, do not enter the value of any household items.

Dividends, Interest, and Royalty Income: Currently, district offices enter amounts of dividends, interest, or royalties paid directly to recipients as codes 211, 212, or 213 respectively.

 At the next redetermination or case action, remove any income coded 211, 212, or 213 if the source of the income is a countable resource. Any income from excluded resources continues to be counted as unearned income.

 For new applicants, do not enter any of these income types unless the income comes from an excluded resource.

Penalty for Failure to Enumerate

 For NHEP/FAP financial assistance applications received on or after 3/31/97, deny financial assistance to cases in which one or more members refuses or fails to provide or apply for a Social Security Number without good cause. (See FAM 309.)

 For current recipients, inform clients of the new policy at the next redetermination. Allow 10 days for noncomplying case members to cooperate with enumeration requirements prior to closing the financial assistance case.

 Treat income and resources of excluded members according to current policy in FAM 611.05.

Systems Changes

The following changes have been made to EMS. In some instances, these replace interim procedures released by previous SR’s.

Age of Dependent Child

Continue to use existing student indicator codes N, E, or F in field I-25. The Age Control Report will reflect new policy for dependent children who are reaching the upper age range for NHEP or FAP eligibility.

Coding Exempt Vehicles

SR 97-3, February 1, 1997, released policy exempting certain vehicles from the NHEP/FAP financial and/or medical assistance resource test and the Food Stamp resource test when related to a financial assistance case. The exemption continued for EMA and Food Stamps when AP ended due to increased earnings or hours from employment. District offices were instructed to enter the countable food stamp value for exempted vehicles as social service resource code 809.

The reprogramming of Code 809 has been completed. Values entered as code 809 (field I-44) will no longer count for social services but will be counted toward the resource limit for food stamps in any case not open for NHEP/FAP financial assistance or EMA.

Life Insurance Equity Value

In February, all 722 (life insurance) codes on TANF financial assistance and related MA cases were removed because life insurance is no longer counted in determining resource eligibility for these programs.

Exception: The equity value of countable life insurance owned by non-categorically eligible refugees must be entered on EMS. Use resource code 805.

New Indicators Added to IC Screen and Related NOD’s

Under AP Type on the IC screen, the following indicators have been added:

F  for Family Assistance Program

N  for NH Employment Program

EMS will select the appropriate indicator based on information entered and then generate new NOD’s related to indicators F and N. The messages "TANF Family Assistance Program" or "TANF New Hampshire Employment Program" will appear on the NOD above the Action Message.

Manual Page Changes

FAM Chapters 100, 300, 400, 500 and 600 have been revised to reflect new policy. In addition, a correction to food stamp recoupment policy in Chapter 600 was made to allow recoupment for overissuances for one and two person households receiving the $10 minimum allotment. In Chapter 100, Parts 167 and 169 were updated to incorporate policy released in SR 97-3. These pages were inadvertently overlooked when other Chapter 100 changes were released with SR 97-3. In addition, because SR 97-9, scheduled for simultaneous release with this SR, contains substantial revisions to FAM Chapter 200, manual pages containing policy revising the definition of "dependent child" and the change to food stamp policy on siblings is being released as part of SR 97-9.

Lastly, a correction to Part 419.09, Penalty for Transferring Resources, has been made. SR 96-2/January 1996 released policy changing the period of ineligibility from 24 months to 36 months for transferring countable resources for less than Fair Market Value in order to become eligible for financial assistance. This change was included at that time in Chapter 400 of the AAM but not in the FAM.

Note: Do not recalculate the period of ineligibility for any financial assistance cases currently being penalized for transfer of resources. Apply the correct period of ineligibility (36 months) only to cases in which a transfer of resources is discovered on or after 3/31/97.

IMPLEMENTATION

Social Security Enumeration: To implement the new penalty for failure to enumerate, apply the policy to all new applicants on or after March 31, 1997. For open cases, apply no later than the next redetermination occurring on or after March 31, 1997.

All other TANF policy changes released by this SR are effective March 31, 1997.

Change in Food Stamp Household Definition

Apply the policy relating to siblings:

 to all initial food stamp applications processed 3/31/97 or later;

 at next recertification, or at client request, for cases in which siblings are currently combined into one food stamp household, purchase and prepare food separately, and meet all other requirements for separate household status (e.g., neither sibling is under age 18 and under the parental control of another household member). Allow siblings to file separate applications and take the appropriate case actions.

 Provide lost benefits to affected households at client request or as the District Office becomes aware of underissuances due to the late implementation of this policy.

POSTING INSTRUCTIONS

DISPOSITION

This SR may be destroyed after its contents have been noted and its posting instructions carried out.

DISTRIBUTION

This SR only will be distributed according to the narrative distribution list for the Family Assistance and Forms Manuals. The SR with manual pages will be distributed to all holders of the FAM and Forms Manual.

OES/mgd

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CERTIFICATE OF DESTRUCTION

I hereby certify that all copies of Forms 758 (SR 89-19/July 1989), 788 (SR 82-135/December 1982), 789 (SR 87-40/August 1987, and 800 (SR 90-49/October 1990 or SR 95-47/July 1995) have been destroyed.

Office Manager: ________________________ District Office: ________________________

NOTE: Return this certificate to Stock Control at State Office after the instructions in this   SR have been carried out.