Revision 20-0; Effective November 2019
2210 General Principles
Revision 20-0; Effective November 2019
A County Indigent Health Care Program (CIHCP) household is a person living alone, or two or more persons living together, where legal responsibility for support exists, excluding disqualified persons.
Legal responsibility for support exists between:
- Persons who are legally married, (including common-law marriage);
- A legal parent and a minor child, (including unborn children); or
- A managing conservator and a minor child.
Medicaid is the only program that disqualifies a person from CIHCP.
2220 Definitions
Revision 20-0; Effective November 2019
Adult – A person at least age 18 or a younger person who is or has been married or had the disabilities of minority removed for general purposes.
Common Law Marriage – A relationship in which the parties age 18 or older are free to marry, live together and hold out to the public that they are spouses. A minor child in Texas is not legally allowed to enter a common law marriage unless the claim of common law marriage began before Sept. 1, 1997.
Emancipated Minor – A person under age 18 who has been married. The marriage must not have been annulled.
Managing Conservator – A person designated by a court to have daily responsibility for a child.
Married Minor – An individual, age 14-17, who is married. These individuals must have parental consent or court permission. An individual under age 18 may not be a party to an informal (common law) marriage.
Minor Child – A person under age 18 who is not, or has not been, married and has not had the disabilities of minority removed for general purposes.
2230 CIHCP Household
Revision 20-0; Effective November 2019
The CIHCP household is a person living alone, or two or more persons living together, where legal responsibility for support exists, excluding disqualified persons.
Disqualified Persons
- A person who receives or is categorically eligible to receive Medicaid;
- A person who receives SSI benefits; or
- A person who receives Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB), Medicaid Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (MQMB), Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary (SLMB), Qualified Individual-1 (QI-1), or Qualified Disabled and Working Individual (QDWI) and a Medicaid recipient who partially exhausts some component of his Medicaid benefits.
A disqualified person is not a CIHCP household member regardless of his legal responsibility for support.
CIHCP One-Person Household
- A person living alone;
- An adult living with others who are not legally responsible for the adult’s support;
- A minor child living alone or with others who are not legally responsible for the child’s support;
- A Medicaid ineligible spouse;
- A Medicaid ineligible parent whose spouse and/or minor children are Medicaid eligible;
- A Medicaid ineligible foster child; and
- An inmate in a county jail.
CIHCP Group Households
Two or more persons who are living together and meet one of the following descriptions:
- Two persons legally married to each other;
- One or both legal parents and their legal minor children;
- A managing conservator and a minor child and the conservator’s spouse and other legal minor children, if any;
- Minor children, including unborn children, who are siblings; and
- Both Medicaid ineligible parents of Medicaid eligible children.
2240 Screening Tools
Revision 20-0; Effective November 2019
Your Texas Benefits at http://www.yourtexasbenefits.com screens for potential eligibility for Medicaid and other programs provided by Texas state agencies.
The Benefit Eligibility Screening Tool (BEST) at http://www.ssabest.benefits.gov screens for potential eligibility for benefits from any of the programs that Social Security administers.
2250 Verifying Household
Revision 20-0; Effective November 2019
Verify household, if questionable. Proof may include, but is not limited to:
- Lease agreement; or
- Statement from a landlord, neighbor or other reliable source.
2260 Documenting Household
Revision 20-0; Effective November 2019
On Form 3065, Worksheet, document why information regarding household is questionable and how questionable household is verified.