Who is exempt from the citizenship and identity requirements? ............... page 8     

• Question 1:  Are Former Foster Care Children exempt from the DRA requirement?      
• Answer 1:  (revised 11/02/07):  Yes, while they are in aid code 4M.
• Question 2: (posted 11/02/07):  Which of the exempt categories are exempt in perpetuity and which are not?
• Answer 2:  (posted 11/02/07):  An individual is exempt from the DRA evidence of citizenship and identity requirement only if they are currently in an exempt status, with the exception of the following:
  
a.  Deemed eligible infants who are born in the U.S. and who therefore are citizens (includes children born to non-citizen mothers and whose delivery was covered by Medi-Cal); and
b.  Infants eligible under the Abandoned Baby Program who are also born in the U.S. and have no documentation.
• Question 3: (posted 01/17/08): What is Retirement and Survivors Insurance that is received based on the person's own disability?
• Answer 3:  (posted 01/17/08): Recipients receiving Retirement and Survivor’s Insurance (RSI) based on their own disability are those who have not worked the required quarters themselves but are entitled to receive retirement or survivor’s benefits based on a spouse’s or parent’s work quarters and who have been determined disabled by SSA.  This group would include Disabled Adult Children and Disabled Widows/Widowers.  These recipients would be between the ages of 18 and 65 years.  This group may be hard to identify with their Award letter as their eligibility can shift over time (for instance they may start receiving retirement based Social Security after age 60 or 62 if they have accrued work quarters of their own).  If it is not clear whether a recipient is receiving Social Security benefits because of their own disability after viewing the Award letter, the county worker should contact SSA.  This is necessary because there is no reliable information in MEDS that can be used to identify persons receiving RSI based on their own disability.
• Question 4: (posted 04/24/08): Railroad Retirement was not mentioned as an exempt category.  Should they also be exempt?
• Answer 4: (posted 04/24/08): There is no exemption authorized for railroad retirement recipients.  However, individuals who receive or are eligible to receive railroad retirement benefits can be eligible for Medicare.  Individuals receiving Medicare are exempt.
• Question 5: (posted 04/24/08):  A person applies for Medi-Cal and claims to be a U.S. citizen but does not have this birth certificate.  We pend.  Three months later we are notified by the person that they are now receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.  This person is now exempt. We believe that we should not delay approving this person's case and believe that since they have provided documents to SSA in regard to their U.S. citizenship that we would approve for full scope benefits from the date of application.  Is that assumption correct?
• Answer 5: (posted 04/24/08):  When an applicant provides evidence of citizenship and identity or evidence that they meet one of the exemptions, after their application date, approve eligibility back to the date of application (including retroactive months if otherwise eligible).
• Question 6: (posted 04/24/08):  If an applicant is not exempt from the citizenship/identity requirements at the time of application, but meets one of the exemption criteria while they are making a good faith effort, would we grant full scope Medi-Cal back to the date of application?
• Answer 6: (posted 04/24/08):  Yes.
• Question 7: (posted 04/24/08):  When a foreign-born applicant or beneficiary claims to be a U.S. citizen and is exempt from the citizenship/identity requirements based on current receipt of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicare, is it necessary to obtain evidence of citizenship?
• Answer 7: (posted 04/24/08):  No.  Counties must not require evidence of citizenship or identity for any individual who claims to be a United States citizen or a U.S. national and who is exempt from the requirement.
• Question 8: (posted 7/11/08):  If a Medi-Cal applicant without a birth certificate is in pending status for three months, and then starts receiving Social Security Disability Insurance, should the county worker approve the case with full scope benefits from the date of application and obtain documentation of their status as verification for those few months?
• Answer 8: (posted 7/11/08): Approve full scope Medi-Cal from the date of application including eligible reto-months.  If SSDI is approved while the application is pending no additional evidence of citizenship identify is required for the months before SSDI benefits are approved. Documentation is not needed if an applicant has met SSA requirements for SSDI.
• Question 9: (posted 07/29/08): Are children in foster care (aided under aid code 45) exempt from the DRA citizenship/identity requirements?
• Answer 9: (posted 07/29/08): Yes.
• Question 10: (posted 08/25/08): ACWDL 08-28 states that “Accordingly, effective the date of this letter, counties cannot exempt a Medi-Cal applicant or beneficiary from the DRA citizenship/identity requirements solely on the basis of their former receipt of SSI or their former enrollment in Medicare”.  What do we do for beneficiaries that were considered exempt due to this status before the final federal rules came out?
• Answer 10: (posted 08/25/08): Former SSI or Medicare recipients are not exempt from the DRA citizenship/identity requirements effective with the release of ACWDL 08-28.  DRA Citizenship/Identity information must be requested as soon as the county learns that a person exempt based on receipt of SSI or Medicare is no longer receiving those benefits unless the individual is exempt on some other basis.  If a Medi-Cal beneficiary's DRA exemption status changes to non-exempt, they must be treated as a beneficiary for purposes of DRA citizenship/identity requirements and must continue to receive full scope Medi-Cal during the reasonable opportunity period in accordance with ACWDL 07-12.