Medi-Cal’s Institutional Deeming Waiver 101

Several government benefit programs, including IHSS, require that your child be enrolled in Medi-Cal before you can access services. For some families, however, parental income exceeds Medi-Cal’s qualifying threshold. If this is the case for your family and your child is a Regional Center client, your child can enroll in full-scope Medi-Cal — which provides the full range of covered benefits, not just emergency services — using the Medi-Cal Home and Community-Based Services for the Developmentally Disabled (HCBS-DD) waiver.

The HCBS-DD waiver is an institutional deeming waiver that is designed for individuals with developmental disabilities regardless of parental income, as long as your child’s personal income and resource levels fall below program thresholds.

This might sound intimidating, but it’s less complicated than it sounds! Our Public Benefits Specialist Lisa Concoff Kronbeck breaks it down for us here.

What does "institutional deeming" mean?

Medi-Cal is a need-based program that evaluates an applicant’s income and resources to determine eligibility. When a child with a disability lives at home with parents, or when an adult with a disability lives at home with a spouse, Medi-Cal will “deem” most of the parental or spousal income and resources to the applicant, which can render them ineligible for Medi-Cal (even if the deemed income isn’t enough to cover adequate care).

However, when a person resides in an institutional setting (such as a nursing home or a hospital), only the individual’s own income and resources may be counted for Medi-Cal eligibility.

The waiver program for people with developmental disabilities was designed to prevent unnecessary institutionalizations by funding home and community-based services for Regional Center clients who live at home, but who would otherwise qualify for placement in a state-funded residential care facility for individuals with developmental disabilities. If your child meets the admission criteria for such a facility (see the section below on eligibility), Medi-Cal will only look at your child’s income and resources, without regard to parental income.

Does this mean my child will be considered for facility placement?

No. The determination of institutional-deeming eligibility is theoretical for these purposes; the Regional Center is not assessing your child in anticipation of actual placement in a facility. You will be asked to fill out Form DS 2200, and in Section III, Services / Living Arrangement, you will check option C and write in “family home” if your child will remain in the family home.

How do I know if my child is eligible for the Medi-Cal waiver?

To be eligible for the HCBS-DD waiver, a Regional Center client under the age of 18 must:

• live at home with their family
• have a valid Social Security number
• be ineligible for Medi-Cal due to family income
• be diagnosed with a developmental disability
• have two or more qualifying conditions in the areas of self-help, motor functioning, social/emotional functioning, special health care conditions, or extensive medical needs
• receive at least one funded waiver service (Many families fulfill this requirement via respite hours.)
  • Note: We usually see Regional Centers requiring at least one funded service within a twelve-month period, but the official waiver document states that the person must have a monthly service, and some Regional Centers are enforcing this requirement.

  Note that the waiver must be renewed every year. See "Do I need to renew the waiver?" below.

  

  How do I apply for the Medi-Cal waiver?

  Once the Regional Center refers your child for Medi-Cal’s HCBS-DD waiver, you will receive a thick packet of paperwork in the mail. Ordinarily, families filling out this paperwork need to establish that their income falls below a certain threshold in order to qualify for the program. However, because only families with excess income can qualify for the waiver, the main purpose of this application for families above the income threshold is to establish that the child doesn’t qualify for Medi-Cal on an income basis. This means it’s usually not necessary to provide a detailed list of all your assets.

  Examples of documents you can use to show proof of income include copies of bank statements, paystubs, or a completed 1040 or W2 form. Your child, however, must not exceed Medi-Cal's income thresholds. If your child has personal earnings, you might want to consult with a financial planner to determine the most appropriate course of action, such as creating an ABLE account and/or special needs trust.

  Traditionally, the Medi-Cal application also required proof that savings fell below $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for married couples. However, the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion eliminated the asset test for almost everybody except for elderly people and people with disabilities. Asset tests applied to “aged and disabled” programs will gradually be phased out beginning in July 2022, when the limit will be raised from $2,000 for an individual to $130,000. This change will only be applicable to Medi-Cal recipients; the resource limits for SSI will remain the same since SSI is a federal program.

  Some Regional Centers have a designated Medi-Cal specialist who can set up an appointment with you to help you fill out this paperwork. Ask your child’s service coordinator whether this option is available to you.

  You can also upload documents from a computer at the DPSS YourBenefitsNow website.

  Can my child get the Medi-Cal waiver under age 3?

  Prior to age 3, children receive early intervention services from Regional Center if they have or are at risk of developmental delays or disabilities. Because early intervention services use a different stream of funding and are based on different eligibility criteria, parents will often be told that children cannot be enrolled in the waiver program until age 3. This is incorrect. However, children under age 3 must have a diagnosed developmental disability that will continue to qualify them for Regional Center eligibility after age 3.

  Because the criteria for eligibility are based on a child’s deficits relative to a typical child of the same age (and typically developing infants and toddlers are not generally capable of daily self-care), children under age 3 who qualify are most likely to have significant medical needs. A child must have at least two qualifying medical care needs to be eligible for the waiver.

  There does not appear to be an explicit list of criteria, and parents have reported a variety of conditions being considered as qualifying, including heart defects, tube-feeding, oxygen, nebulizer treatments, monitoring placement of hearing aids and glasses, giving medications, and more, so we suggest emphasizing the extent to which your child’s gross and fine motor impairments require significant interventions on a regular basis.

  Do I need to renew the waiver?

  Yes, the HCBS-DD waiver enrollment must be reassessed every year. This means you will need to continue to provide Medi-Cal with annual income information. The county will also ask you for a signed copy of Form DHCS 7096, the Regional Center waiver referral form. Some Regional Centers file this form on their own, and some request that the parent initiate the submission of the form. Check with your service coordinator to find out their process. Either way, make sure this form is both signed AND dated by your service coordinator.

  ✅ NOTE: You will likely need to draw your service coordinator’s attention to the signature and date requirement, because while the form does not include a fill-in field for the date, parents have reported delays in their renewals in the absence of both signature and date, and Medi-Cal case workers are instructing parents accordingly.

  How do I use Medi-Cal services?

  Most Medi-Cal recipients will enroll in a county-managed care plan whether Medi-Cal is their primary or secondary coverage.

  Many families use Medi-Cal to fund medical, dental, and pharmacy copayments if the private insurance provider also accepts the type of Medi-Cal the patient receives. Parents may also be able to get certain supplies funded that the private insurance will not cover, like diapers and other incontinence supplies, as well as services and equipment that may be excluded or limited by the private plan.

  If you have primary insurance and hope to use Medi-Cal as a secondary coverage, make sure that your providers accept the type of Medi-Cal in which your child is enrolled.

  Many families receiving Medi-Cal apply for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) for their child. IHSS is a Medi-Cal service that provides limited funding for caregiving to the extent a child’s care needs are above and beyond those of a typical child. Learn more about IHSS here.

  Our Medi-Cal terms and services glossary can give you a better idea of what services your Medi-Cal plan might cover. For more on making the most of Medi-Cal, see our article here.

  Can my child still get Medi-Cal if they're not eligible for Regional Center?

  If your child does not have a developmental disability but still has complex medical needs, they may be able to access Medi-Cal through a different waiver program. Learn about the Home and Community Based Alternatives Waiver (HCBA) here.

  Recipients of SSI can also receive Medi-Cal coverage.