Medicaid

If you’re applying for Idaho Medicaid or trying to keep your coverage, Idaho Legal Aid Services can help. We offer resources and guidance on eligibility for children, pregnant people, adults, seniors, and people with disabilities, including income and asset rules. You’ll learn how to apply, complete renewals, and fix common document issues. We explain what to do if your case is denied or closed, how to ask for a fair hearing, and how to keep benefits while you appeal in some situations. You’ll also find plain-language information on long-term care, spenddowns, estate recovery, and how Medicaid works with Medicare and private insurance.

Medicaid helps pay for health care for people who fit within certain categories (such as being a child or elderly or disabled or pregnant) and whose income and assets fall within certain limits (which vary depending on which category a person fits within). Idaho's Medicaid program covers many items and services, including the full range of long-term care. 

Individuals who also qualify for Medicare coverage are able to use their Medicaid to pay for Medicare premiums, deductibles, and co-payments.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has created a Medicaid Protection FAQs page on their website to explain Medicaid dis-enrollments and how you can protect your access to Medicaid benefits. For more information on how to protect your Medicaid access, please see their Frequently Asked Questions page here: https://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/medicaidprotection.

The Idaho Department of Health & Welfare has Medicaid programs available that provide health coverage for:

  • Children under 19 years of age
  • Parents or other related adults with children under 19
  • Pregnant women
  • Women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer or pre-cancer
  • People aged 65 or older
  • People who are blind or disabled (using Social Security criteria)

Visit this link for more information.

The attached document is a plain-English guide to Idaho Medicaid for long-term care. It includes information on who qualifies, income and resource limits, spousal protections, Miller trusts, transfer penalties, and estate recovery - as well as where and how to apply through Idaho Health & Welfare.