Medicaid Covers People With Disabilities Who Work

These rules mean your child can keep getting Medicaid even while making a lot of money at work:

• If your child gets Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits while working, Medicaid will continue automatically.
• If your child used to get SSI benefits, but now makes enough money that their SSI benefits ended, SSI's 1619(b) rule means Medicaid will continue automatically even if your child makes up to $53,732 per year ($54,260 if blind).
• Medicaid for Employed People with Disabilities (MEPD) lets your child keep their Medicaid coverage even if their resources or income are more than the regular Medicaid limits. To qualify, your child's family must have countable income that is at or below 250% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG) for their family size:
  • If your child is single and lives alone, that's $3,325 or less per month; for a family of four, that's $6,875 or less per month of countable family income. Note: If your child is 19 or older and you don't claim them as a dependent on your taxes, MEPD may consider them a single person living alone, even if they still live with you.
  • To see if someone qualifies for MEPD, MEPD counts their family's money the same way that SSI does: almost all of the family members' unearned income is counted, but less than half of their earned income is counted.
  • Your child can have up to $12,000 in resources and qualify for MEPD.
  • Depending on your child's income, they may have to pay a monthly premium for coverage.

If your child doesn't qualify for any of those options, they can get private health coverage through work or on HealthCare.gov. Private insurance companies cannot deny coverage to your child.