COLORADO LEGAL SERVICES,

1905 Sherman St., Ste. 400, Denver (303-837-1313)

PICKLE ELIGIBILITY SCREEN--2004

The following procedure identifies persons income eligible for Medicaid pursuant to the Pickle Amendment. Such individuals must still meet the resource (no more than $2000 in countable resources) and non-financial requirements for SSI.

Step 1: Is the person now receiving Social Security? If not, the person is not Pickle eligible.

Step 2: Since April of 1977, has the person ever received SSI (or OAP) either:

    1. while they were receiving Social Security; or
    2. while they were awaiting a decision on their Social Security application,

which application was then approved?

If not, then the person is not Pickle eligible.

Step 3: Look up the year in which the person last received SSI (or OAP) and Social Security on the table on the next page. Find the appropriate reduction factor and multiply the person’s current gross Social Security benefit by that factor. Note that these factors change each year.

(An alternative to this step is to obtain a release and ask the Social Security District Office for a statement showing the amount of the monthly Social Security benefit that the person was entitled to when SSI was last terminated.)

Step 4: Add the figure obtained at Step 3 to any other countable income the person may have, and subtract any applicable SSI income disregards ($20 can always be deducted). If the result is less than the current SSI income standard ($564 in 2004), or, for persons 60 or over, the current OAP standard ($589 in 2003), the person is income eligible for Medicaid.

COLA Reduction Factors for Calculating Medicaid Eligibility

Under the Pickle Amendment during 2004

If the last month for which a person received SSI while entitled to Social Security was in any of the periods below, multiply the present amount of his or her Social Security by the corresponding factor and then subtract $20.

If SSI terminated during: multiply current (2004) Social Security income by:

January 2003 -December 2003………………………….. .979

January 2002 - December 2002………………………….. .965

January 2001- December 2001…………………………… .940

January 2000 -December 2000…………………………… .908

January 1999-December 1999…………………………… .886

January 1998-December 1998…………………………… .874

January 1997-December 1997…………………………… .856

January 1996-December 1996…………………………… .831

January 1995-December 1995…………………………… .809

January 1994-December 1994…………………………… .787

January 1993-December 1993…………………………… .766

January 1992-December 1992…………………………… .743

January 1991-December 1991…………………………… .716

January 1990-December 1990…………………………… .678

January 1989-December 1989…………………………….. .647

January 1988-December 1988…………………………… .621

January 1987-December 1987…………………………… .595

January 1986-December 1986…………………………… .587

January 1985-December 1985…………………………… .569

January 1984-December 1984…………………………… .549

July 1982-December 1983……………………………….. .530

July 1981-June 1982……………………………………… .492

July 1980-June 1981……………………………………… .440

July 1979-June 1980……………………………………… .383

July 1978-June 1979……………………………………… .346

July 1977-June 1978……………………………………… .324

May or June 1977………………………………………… .305

An update of this table is published annually in the September/October issue of Clearinghouse Review, or can be obtained from Colorado Legal Services in approximately November.