Revision 09-4; Effective December 1, 2009

A person is eligible for Medicaid, despite failure to apply for other benefits within the 30-day period or to take other necessary steps to obtain other benefits, if there is good reason for not doing so. For example, there is good reason if:

• the person’s guardian or authorized representative is unable to apply for other benefits because of illness; or
• it would be useless to apply because the person had previously applied and the other program has already turned the person down for reasons that have not changed.

According to Public Law 101-508, a person is not required to accept, as a condition of eligibility, payments that a state may make as compensation to victims of crime.

When applying for or receiving benefits under a Medicare Savings Program, a person is not required to apply for SSI benefits in order to be eligible for MSP coverage.