MEMORANDUM

2008 Memorandums

IM-#107      12/05/08

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
FAMILY SUPPORT DIVISION
P.O. BOX 2320
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI
TO:
ALL COUNTY OFFICES
FROM:
JANEL R. LUCK, DIRECTOR
SUBJECT:
FAMIS SSI/SSA/VA/RR COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT FOR FOOD STAMPS, CHILD CARE, AND TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

DISCUSSION:

In January 2009, all Social Security Administration (SSA), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Veterans Administration (VA), and Railroad Retirement (RR) participants will receive a 5.8% cost of living adjustment (COLA). A mass adjustment of FAMIS Child Care, Food Stamp, and Temporary Assistance EUs with SSA, SSI, VA, and/or RR income increases will occur the weekend of December 6, 2008.

Child Care EU's with an active Food Stamp EU will have an increase to their SSI income. This income source continues to be excluded when determining eligibility for Child Care assistance. Changes in Temporary Assistance grants resulting from the mass adjustment will be included in the Child Care and Food Stamp adjustments. If the Temporary Assistance case is closed, the grant will be removed from the Child Care and Food Stamp budgets.

Senate Bill 577 (2007) authorized the disregard of Social Security COLA increases for many MO HealthNet programs until the next federal poverty level adjustment in April. The Family Healthcare Program cases are not being adjusted for the SSA and SSI COLA, but are being adjusted for the VA and RR COLA. A separate memorandum is being issued regarding the SSI/SSA/VA/RR cost of living adjustment for the Family Healthcare Programs.

Please review the following topics carefully.

New Amount of SSI

Increases in SSI benefit amounts are as follows:

  NEW AMOUNT INCREASE
Individual in own household $ 674.00 $ 37.00
Couple in own household $ 1011.00 $ 55.00
Individual in household of another $ 449.34 $ 24.67
Couple in household of another $ 674.00 $ 36.66
Essential person/own home $ 388.00 $ 69.00

SMI Premium

The SMI Premium remains $96.40 for 2009

Adding SMI Premium

EUs with an SMI premium verified by the BENDEX file as being paid by the individual are eligible for the medical expense for Food Stamp benefits and Child Care assistance. If the individual pays the SMI amount and there is no medical expense type SM in FAMIS, the medical expense type SM and amount verified by the BENDEX file will be added for the month of January 2009 during the mass adjustment. If the Social Security claim ID is blank or incorrect in FAMIS, the system will be unable to complete the adjustment to add the SMI premium as a medical expense.

NOTE: If the SMI premium expense has been entered in FAMIS with the incorrect source code (such as MS or HI), the additional expense type code of SM will be added, allowing the expense twice.

End-Dating SMI Premium

EUs with medical expense type SM in FAMIS who are no longer paying the premium are not eligible for this medical expense. If there is a medical expense type SM in FAMIS and the BENDEX file verifies the SMI premium is being paid by the State of Missouri, the medical expense will be end dated in FAMIS as of December 31, 2008. FAMIS will remove the expense effective the month of January 2009, and complete an eligibility determination. The EU will receive an FA-150 Action Notice of any change in benefits due to the increase in income and removal of the medical expense. An FA-510, Adverse Action Notice, will not be sent to the Food Stamp EUs since this is being done as part of a mass adjustment.

Mass Adjustment Process

The mass adjustment will begin in FAMIS on December 6, 2008. The system will be unavailable until the adjustments are completed. If the adjustments are not completed by the morning of December 8, 2008, staff will be notified.

Most EUs with SSA/SSI/VA/RR income that are active by the end of the day on December 5, 2008, with a certification ending January 2009 or later will be adjusted to show the increased benefit amounts. FAMIS will identify any EU that has been adjusted by the worker if there is a January 2009 budget with an increased SSA/SSI/VA/RR income and will not adjust the case.

FAMIS will not complete the eligibility determination for applications in the controlled flow. For pending Child Care or Food Stamp recertifications, if the child care certification period or last Food Stamp month of certification is January 2009 or February 2009, the SSA/SSI/VA/RR amount is adjusted by the system. Review the SSA/SSI/VA/RR amount prior to completing the application. If the SSA/SSI/VA/RR amount is not correct, follow instructions in theManual Adjustments by County Staff section of this memorandum.

The eligibility specialist must compute the net adjusted income using the new SSA/SSI/VA/RR amounts for new Child Care, Food Stamp, and Temporary Assistance applications processed after December 6, 2008.

For couple cases, if the couple receives total maximum SSA and SSI, the SSA amount is adjusted by the amount on the BENDEX file or 5.8%. Then, the SSI amount is adjusted by the difference between the SSA increased benefit and the new SSI maximum plus $20. Due to rounding, this calculation may end up $1 different than the actual amount of SSA/SSI/VA/RR income. Adjust TA cases as you review using the actual amount of SSA/SSI/VA/RR income received.

FAMIS will adjust, end, or add the medical expense type SM-SMI PREMIUM as described in the SMI Premium section of this memorandum. On the Food Stamp budget, if there is a medical expense entered which does not have an allowable verification code, the FA-150 Action Notice notifies the EU the expense is not being considered in the budget. This includes medical expenses other than mileage or transportation costs verified by client's statement (CS). Medical expenses should be reviewed and discussed with the EU at the next contact to attempt to verify expenses.

If an active FAMIS EU is adjusted or closed, the EU Action Log (FM40) displays the action taken by the system and the benefit amount for benefit month 012009. To view information that resulted in the action, select the action and press F17=INQAUTH. The Action Authorization (FM3H) screen is displayed. Press F16=BUDSUM to access the Budget Summary screen for each program type. From the Budget Summary screen, press F14=INCSUMM to access the Income Summary Detail screen (FM33). The income types, sources, and gross amounts are displayed for budget month 012009. Press F21=RETURN to return to the Budget Summary screen, and press F15=EXPSUM to view the Expense Summary screen (FM34). The expense classes, types, and amounts are displayed for budget month 012009.

Eligibility determinations which have not been run prior to the mass adjustment will be completed during the mass adjustment. This may result in the creation of an RTA (ready to authorize) status. An alert "OUTSTANDING ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION" will be generated and must be resolved.

NOTE: It is important to review income from SSA/SSI/VA/RR, and SMI Premium at the next contact to verify the correct amounts.

Food Stamp Simplified Reporting EUs

The SSA/SSI/VA/RR COLA is considered a change that must be acted on and all cases are required to be adjusted to accurately reflect all information known at the time of the adjustment. Therefore, simplified reporting EUs with previously disregarded actions (action status DIS) are adjusted using ALL information in the system.

If the Food Stamp benefits for a simplified reporting EU decrease as a result of the cumulative changes, an FA-510 Adverse Action Notice will be generated and the adjustment will be made to decrease the benefits or close the case. Do not disregard the mass adjustment action. This includes a previously disregarded Adverse Action to Remove a Person (AARP).

Conflict of Actions

FAMIS adjusts the income and expenses on EUs with a pending adverse action at the time of the mass adjustment. This results in a conflict of actions because one adverse action must be completed or voided before the other can be taken. The eligibility specialist receives the alert "ADVERSE ACTION NEEDS RESOLVING". The conflict must be resolved by the eligibility specialist.

To resolve the conflict:

Notices

Two types of notices are generated as a result of the mass adjustment. The FA-510 Adverse Action Notice is dated December 8, 2008. The FA-150 Action Notice generated by the mass adjustment is dated December 22, 2008, to allow adequate mail time due to the large volume of cases affected. There will not be any notices generated for no change (NOCH) actions in FAMIS.

Request for Hearing/Continued Benefits

The FA-510 Adverse Action Notice is dated December 8, 2008. Any EU receiving an FA-510 Adverse Action Notice may request a hearing on the mass adjustment action within 90 days from the date of the notice.

The FA-150 Action Notice generated by the mass adjustment is dated December 22, 2008. Mass adjustment actions REDU (reduction), and CLOS (closing) receive the FA-150 Action Notice notifying the EU the action has been taken.

Any EU receiving an FA-150 Action Notice may request a hearing on the mass adjustment action within 90 days from December 22, 2008.

To continue the Food Stamp benefits at a higher amount for EUs who received an FA-510 Adverse Action Notice pending the hearing decision, update the action status to HOLD (HOL) on the Action Resolution (FM50) screen. Refer to Changing an Adverse Action Status user guide for instructions.

Managed Reporting/EUs Needing Review

There is no longer an "error" report for the COLA adjustment. If SSA/SSI/VA/RR benefit did not adjust, there is a reason. Some benefits adjusted require review for accuracy. FAMIS will generate reports in the Managed Reporting system of active EUs that need review. It is important to review and take the necessary actions for each review message to ensure accuracy of all eligibility determinations for these individuals.

To review the reports:

Each eligibility specialist must access the report for his/her primary caseload. A reason for review is included for each EU member on the report. More than one reason may appear for each EU on the report. Review all EU information to ensure correct data is entered.

Reasons for Review

The following reasons for review will be displayed in the SSA/SSI/VA/RR Needing Review online report in Managed Reporting. It is important to review every eligibility unit displayed and take the following actions to ensure accuracy of the FAMIS record and correct eligibility determinations for these individuals.

Manual Adjustments by County Staff

To manually adjust the SSA/SSI/VA/RR amount in the Child Care, Food Stamp, or Temporary Assistance EU, first attempt to verify the new amount from BENDEX/SDX printouts or the IIVE interface. If not available, compute the new SSA/SSI/VA/RR amount by multiplying the original amount by 105.8% and rounding down to the nearest dollar.

Manual adjustments of the SSA, SSI, VA, or RR as a result of the COLA are considered a change that must be acted upon. If the Child Care, Food Stamp, or Temporary Assistance benefits decrease, or the EU closes, authorize the actions to generate an FA-510 Adverse Action Notice

Controlled Flow

If a Child Care, Food Stamp, or Temporary Assistance application is in the controlled flow, review the SSA/SSI/VA/ RR benefit. Determine the correct SSA/SSI/VA/RR benefit amount and manually adjust the benefit amount effective January 2009 and later months when completing the application/controlled flow.

Blank Verification Code- PEN-Pendin

During the mass adjustment, FAMIS sets the status to PEN (Pending) for cases with an unacceptable or blank verification code. The eligibility specialist receives the alert –Action Not Authorized". If no action is taken by the eligibility specialist, FAMIS will send an FA-510 Adverse Action Notice to reduce or close as appropriate, as the unacceptable or blank verification code has not been resolved.

Review the case file. If the verification is provided, change the verification code, run an eligibility determination, and authorize the action. If the verification is not provided or requested, request the verification on the FA-325 Request for Information form. Once verification is received, update FAMIS with the verification and complete an eligibility determination.

NECESSARY ACTION:

CS/JP/ER/AJ

2008 Memorandums