HB 194 Walsh Moore, Bridget
HB 194 -- TICKET TO WORK HEALTH ASSURANCE PROGRAM
SPONSOR: Walsh Moore
The Ticket to Work Health Assurance Program provides medical assistance through MO HealthNet for employed disabled persons who meet certain qualifications, including asset limits and earned, net, and gross income calculations. Currently, disabled individuals whose income exceeds 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) pay a premium for participation in the Program. If an eligible person's employer offers employer-sponsored health insurance and the Department of Social Services determines the employer-sponsored insurance is more cost effective, the Department will instead pay that person's costs for the employer-sponsored health insurance.
This bill changes the Program as follows:
(1) Excludes retirement accounts from asset limit calculations;
(2) Modifies the income calculation from a net/gross calculation to a broader definition that would consider income for those disabled persons with incomes up to 250% FPL, with earned income of the disabled worker from 250% to 300% FPL disregarded, and retaining the requirement that persons with incomes over 100% FPL pay a premium;
(3) Removes all earned income of the disabled worker from the list of disregards in income determinations;
(4) Adds to the list of disregards the first $50,000 of earned income of a spouse;
(5) If the Department elects to pay the person's costs of employer-sponsored health insurance, MO HealthNet assistance shall be provided as a secondary or supplemental policy for only personal care assistance services and non-emergency medical transportation; and
(6) The Department shall provide an annual report to the General Assembly concerning the number of participants and outreach and education efforts.
This bill is the same as HB 1927 (2022).