Welcome to the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Minnesota Health Care Programs Eligibility Policy Manual (EPM).The manual contains the official DHS eligibility policies for the Minnesota Health Care Programs including Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare. It does not provide procedural instructions or system information. Minnesota Health Care Programs policies are based on the state and federal laws and regulations that govern the programs. See Legal Authority section for more information. See the Legal Authority section for more information.
Beginning June 1, 2023 policy clarifications and policy additions are announced through an Email Subscription. Anyone can sign up to receive the Email Subscription.
Recent Updates
Educator Expenses
We updated the maximum anticipated adjustment for the self-attestation amount to $300 for one educator and $600 when both spouses are educators.
Utility Allowance
We update the amounts for the following allowances:
The updated amounts become effective October 1, 2024.
Excluded Assets Regardless of Identifiability
We updated the list of excluded assets to include: Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) recovery rebate payments, Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act payments, COVID-19 Relief Payments, and RentalHelpMN Assistance.
Shared Ownership of Countable Assets
We moved the following information from EPM section 2.3.3.2.4.1.1 MA-ABD Shared Ownership, which is now retired.
A jointly owned asset is unavailable when all of the following criteria are met:
Payment for Medicare Part B Premiums
We clarified policy to include two new forms.
MA-EPD enrollees who become newly eligible for agency reimbursement of their Medicare Part B premiums must receive the Eligible for Manual Reimbursement for Medicare Part B Premiums for MA-EPD Enrollees Form (DHS-8555).
MA-EPD enrollees who become newly ineligible for agency reimbursement of their Medicare Part B premiums must receive the Ineligible for Manual Reimbursement for Medicare Part B Premiums for MA-EPD enrollees Form (DHS-8556).
In the following EPM sections we clarified the eligibility requirements for people with Medical Assistance for Families and Children with a Spenddown basis who request payment for long-term care services (MA-LTC) while in a long-term care facility (LTCF).
We removed the reference to EPM section 2.3.6.1.2 TEFRA Parental Fees
We incorporated the name change of the Asset Validation System to the Asset Verification Service announced in Bulletin #24-21-03 DHS Explains Electronic Verification of Certain Assets into the following EPM sections.
We incorporated DHS Bulletin #23-21-21 DHS Eliminates Parental Fees for Children Receiving MA under the TEFRA Option and HCBS Waivers. Parental Fees for Children receiving MA under the TEFRA Option and HCBS Waivers.
Effective July 1, 2023, DHS will no longer assess a parental fee for TEFRA and for children accessing HCBS disability waivers.
EMA Renewal
We clarified EMA should remain open, even when the medical emergency has ended.
We updated the amounts for the following allowances:
The updated amounts become effective July 1, 2024
Assumption of Liquidity
We added the statement “that has a value in real currency or acts as a substitute for real currency” after Virtual currency to clarify what it is.
Medicare Reimbursement
We clarified who may be eligible for the Medicare Savings Program (MSP) while residing in an IMD along with a distinction between federally funded and state-funded enrollees.
DHS discontinued the use of manual letters to announce policy clarifications and policy additions effective June 1, 2023. You can see a list of manual letters published between June 1, 2016 to June 1, 2023 in the EPM Archive Manual Letters. As of June 1, 2023 this home page is no longer archived, since it does not contain eligibility policy.
DHS bulletins provide information about policy changes and direction to county and tribal health and human services agencies and other DHS business partners. According to DHS policy, bulletins more than two years old are obsolete. Anyone can subscribe to the Bulletins mailing list.
A DHS Bulletin supersedes information in this manual until incorporated into this manual. The following bulletins have not yet been incorporated into the EPM:
COVID-19 Emergency Bulletins: These bulletins announce temporary policy modifications, which supersede policies in this manual, during the COVID-19 emergency. Because these bulletins provide temporary guidance, they will not be incorporated into this manual.
Prior versions of EPM sections are available upon request. This manual consolidates and updates eligibility policy previously found in the Health Care Programs Manual (HCPM) and Insurance Affordability Programs Manual (IAPM). Prior versions of policy from the HCPM and IAPM are available upon request.
Direct questions about the Minnesota Health Care Programs Eligibility Policy Manual to the DHS Health Care Eligibility and Access (HCEA) Division, P.O. Box 64989, 540 Cedar Street, St. Paul, MN 55164-0989 or fax (651) 431-7423.
Health care eligibility workers must follow agency procedures to submit policy-related questions to HealthQuest.
Many legal authorities govern Minnesota Health Care Programs, including but not limited to:
Each topic in the EPM includes applicable legal citations at the bottom of the page.
DHS has made every effort to include all applicable statutes, laws, regulations and other presiding authorities; however, erroneous citations or omissions do not imply that there are no applicable legal citations or other presiding authorities. The EPM provides program eligibility policy and should not be construed as legal advice.
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