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Medical Assistance for People Who Are Age 65 or Older and People Who Are Blind or Have a Disability

2.3.3.3.2.3 Excluded Income (Archive)

Some types of income are excluded when calculating a person’s income for Medical Assistance for People Who Are Age 65 or Older and People Who Are Blind or Have a Disability (MA-ABD) and Medicare Savings Programs (MSP). See the MSP chapter for more information. Descriptions of each type of income are located in Appendix B Income.

Excluded income includes:

  • Agent Orange Settlement Fund payments

  • AmeriCorps State and National living allowances

  • AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) living allowances

  • Blood Product Settlement payments

  • Child Care and Development Block Grant Act payments

  • Clinical trial participation payments excluded by Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The first $2,000 a person receives during a calendar year is excluded.

  • Cobell Settlement payments for American Indians for a period of 12 months beginning with the month of receipt. This exclusion applies to all household members.

  • Consumer Support Grant (CSG) payments

  • Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) payments. Payments to volunteers, including the following payments authorized under the Domestic Volunteer Services Act:

    • AmeriCorps

    • Urban Crime Prevention Program

    • Special volunteer programs under Title I

    • Demonstration Programs under Title II

    • Senior Corps:

      • Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP)

      • Foster Grandparent Program

      • Senior Companion Program

  • Credit life and credit disability insurance payments

  • Crime victim payments

  • Disaster assistance, federal payments

  • Disaster assistance, state payments

  • Employment and training reimbursements and allowances

  • Family Support Grant (FSG) payments

  • Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund payment

  • Gifts to Children with Life Threatening Conditions from 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation. This are not considered income of a parent and apply only to children who are under age 18.

    • Any in-kind gift not converted to cash is excluded.

    • Cash gifts up to $2,000 in any calendar year are excluded. The amount of total cash payments that exceed $2,000 each year are counted as an asset.

      • Multiple cash gifts in the same calendar year are added together and up to $2,000 of the total is excluded, even if none of the cash gifts exceeds $2,000 individually.

  • Hostile fire pay

  • Housing and Urban Development (HUD) subsidies

  • Individual Development Accounts (IDA)

  • In-kind income

  • Interest on funds that commingle countable and excluded assets

  • James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010

  • Japanese American and Aleutian Restitution payments

  • Jensen Settlement Agreement payments

  • Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) payments

  • Lump sum income

    • Some lump sum income that is used to pay for certain expenses is not counted, including:

      • Costs associated with getting the lump sum, such as attorney’s fees

      • Any portion of the lump sum earmarked for and used to pay medical expenses not covered by insurance or any Minnesota Health Care Program (MHCP), such as a prosthetic device

      • Any portion of the lump sum recovered by the DHS Benefit Recovery Section (BRS)

      • Any portion of the lump sum earmarked for and used to pay funeral and burial costs paid upon the death of a spouse or child

    • SSI lump sum payments

      • Retroactive SSI lump sum payments are excluded as income in the month received.

      • If a person’s SSI is reissued because a representative payee misuses benefits, the reissuance is excluded as income.

    • Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Veterans Affairs (VA) payment due to representative payee misuse. If a person’s SSDI or Veterans Benefits for the Elderly is reissued because an individual representative payee misuses benefits, the reissuance is excluded if the original payment of the income was used to determine the eligibility.

    • Medicare Part B Premium Reimbursements. This lump sum is excluded as income in the month received if the Medicare Part B premiums being reimbursed to the client were not used as an MA spenddown expense.

  • Nazi Persecution payments

  • Participation incentive payments

  • Public assistance payments from the following programs:

    • Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP)

    • Diversionary Work Program (DWP)

    • General Assistance (GA)

    • General Residential Housing (GRH)

    • Minnesota Supplemental Aid (MSA)

    • Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA)

    • Title IV-E and non-Title IV-E Kinship Assistance

    • Title IV-E and non-Title IV-E Adoption Assistance

    • Foster Care Assistance

    • Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Elder Supplement Assistance Program

    • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

    • SSI and all income used to determine SSI (including deemer income)

      • VA Aid and Attendance benefits and VA unusual medical expense payments are not excluded, even if the person is receiving SSI.

  • Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund (RECTF) payments

  • Refunds of rental security and utility deposits

  • Reimbursements for out-of-pocket expenses incurred while performing volunteer services, jury duty or employment

  • Reimbursements for medical expenses

  • Reimbursements for replacement of property

  • Relocation assistance payments, federal

  • Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund payments

  • Student financial aid. The following types of student financial aid income are excluded:

    • Student financial aid received under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, with the exception of Federal Work Study earnings which may count for Medical Assistance for Employed Persons with Disabilities (MA-EPD)

    • Student financial aid received from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), with the exception of Federal Work Study earnings which may count for MA-EPD

    • Non-Title IV and non-BIA grants, scholarships, fellowships and other non-loan financial aid, if used or set aside to pay educational expenses. Refer to MA-ABD Countable Income for funds that are not used for or set aside for educational expenses.

    • Distributions from a Coverdell Educational Savings Accounts (ESA) if the funds are used for educational expenses. Refer to MA-ABD Countable Income for funds that are not used for educational expenses.

    • VA benefits designated as educational assistance

    • Plan to Achieve Self Support (PASS) student financial aid

    • Training expenses paid by the Trade Adjustment Reform Act of 2002

  • Tax credits, rebates and refunds

  • Third party vendor payments, which include, but are not limited to:

    • MSA or GRH payments made directly to a facility

    • Emergency payments to a utility company made by an emergency assistance program such as Emergency General Assistance (EGA)

  • Tribal payments. The following types of tribal payments are excluded:

    • Tribal trust or restricted lands, individual interest: Exclude the first $2,000 received from this income source.

    • Tribal per capita payments from a tribal trust: Exclude all funds from this income source.

    • Tribal land settlements and judgments: Excluded all funds from this income source.

  • Veterans’ Children with Certain Birth Defects payments

  • Vietnamese Commando Compensation Act payments

  • Vocational Rehabilitation Payments

Legal Citations

Minnesota Statutes, section 256B.056, subdivision 1a

Published:  January 1, 2018

Archived:  November 1, 2019