To receive food stamps (now known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits), applicants generally must show that their income is below a certain threshold and that they meet other basic criteria. Determining eligibility for Medicaid, on the other hand, is typically more complicated, except for newly eligible Medicaid populations in states that opted to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Because the Medicaid expansion is largely based on income, people who are newly eligible for Medicaid often need little more than the information required for a SNAP application. Because the income threshold is similar, many of those eligible for SNAP are also eligible for Medicaid, as shown in the graphic below.
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Snap
Households with Members Eligible for Medicaid (in states that have expanded
Medicaid).
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This situation may result in duplicative application review processes. Under normal program rules, a SNAP recipient would have to apply to Medicaid to get benefits from both programs, requiring program staff to verify much of the same information twice and make two separate eligibility determinations.
According to an article on
Governing.com, five states have used Medicaid waivers to allow SNAP recipients to skip part of or most of the Medicaid application. These states — West Virginia, Oregon, Arkansas, California and Illinois — expressed different reasons for wanting the waiver, including convenience, consumer confusion in the face of changing health laws, and fear of technical glitches in health exchange websites.
Waivers allow states to test new or existing ways to deliver and pay for health care services in Medicaid. When the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approves a waiver, states can adjust regular Medicaid rules as agreed upon in the waiver.
