Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

Childhood Cancer Lantern
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Federal, exists in every state

A Medicaid option you may hear called Katie Beckett

Georgia’s Katie Beckett route gives Medicaid to some children without counting parents’ income.

What it is

Georgia’s Katie Beckett route gives Medicaid to some children without counting parents’ income.

Georgia calls this the Deeming Waiver. Parents’ income does not count, and there is no premium. Your child must still meet disability, daily-care, cost and financial tests. An SSI denial is not required first.

Eligibility rules
  • Georgia’s July 2026 policy includes children age 18 and younger and disregards parental income and resources. Your child must meet the financial, disability, institutional-care and cost tests. Under the transition rules, existing coverage continues through the month of the 19th birthday.
  • The 2026 child-only limits are $2,982 monthly income and $2,000 in resources.
  • Disability, institutional level of care and the home-versus-institution cost comparison are separate tests. Hospital, nursing-facility and ICF/IID levels of care are alternatives. Daily skilled nursing is not the only possible care test.
What you get
  • Full Medicaid with no premium when all tests are met.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the hospital enrollment specialist about the Gateway application and the signed medical packet.
  2. Have ready your child’s account records and a note of each care task and its frequency.

Georgia Katie Beckett team, 678-248-7449 · Official page ↗

Application and review
  • Gateway starts the application. The team then invites you to the Katie Beckett portal for the medical packet.
  • Medical forms must be signed within 90 days of submission. No SSI denial is required.
  • Coverage reaches back to the application month. The disability processing standard is 90 days.
  • Level-of-care approvals last at least two years, with yearly financial reviews.
Good to know

A portal account alone does not submit an application. The doctor’s forms need current signatures.

Care records
  • Ordinary maintenance care may need additional evidence for the daily-care test. Diagnosis alone does not settle it.

Related Georgia card: Medicaid without counting parents’ income (Katie Beckett).

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“What are the benefits and drawbacks of Katie Beckett for our child, and could you help us decide whether to apply?”

Why I’m asking: We want the team to check our child’s care needs and own money separately from our income.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Ask for the application paperwork this week, gather the child's own account balances, and get it filed within two weeks with fresh signatures.

Your social worker

Gets the application paperwork, sends the level-of-care form to the right clinician, and checks the signatures are current when it goes in.

The care team

Writes the level-of-care description: every daily task, how often, and what happens without it.

Who decides
The state Medicaid agency's disability review
Ask your social worker
“Can you help me apply for Katie Beckett (TEFRA)? Who on the team writes the level-of-care application paperwork, and how soon can it go in?”

How to apply

First step: Ask the social worker for the state's Katie Beckett application paperwork this week and who on the team writes the level-of-care section.

  1. Get the state packet this week.
  2. Have the clinician describe every daily task and what happens without it.
  3. File in the first two weeks. Coverage reaches back to the application month.

Where it starts: State TEFRA/Katie Beckett application

What to gather

  • Pathology report and oncologist's letter with diagnosis and relapse dates
  • The doctor's and nurse's description of daily skilled care (line care, medicines, monitoring)
  • The child's own accounts (the child's money is tested, usually at $2,000)

How long: Up to 90 days by federal rule for a disability application. File in the first two weeks so coverage reaches back to the application month.

What a yes looks like

Medicaid on the child's own record, no premium in most states, with a level-of-care end date on the letter.

What a no looks like, and the next move

“Level of care not met”: the doctor's description of daily care decides it. Ask what was missing, add the log, and appeal within the notice's period.

Watch out

  • Not every state has it. TEFRA states: AK, DC, DE, GA, ID, LA, ME, MA, MI, MN, MS, NE, NV, NH, OK, RI, SC, SD, WV, WI. Texas and California use other options. The state item explains.
  • The application paperwork expires: signatures usually have to be recent when it reaches the reviewer. Do not let it sit at the clinic.
  • A child on maintenance can be re-reviewed at the next level-of-care date. Ask when that date is.

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 7, 2026.

What it is worth

Full Medicaid on the child's own record, usually with no premium, regardless of parents' income.

Covers: Full state Medicaid benefits · EPSDT home nursing and equipment once enrolled

Legal protection: The test is disjunctive: hospital, nursing facility or ICF level of care. Any one suffices

What it costs the family: No premium in most states. Nevada charges by income.

The eligibility facts, as published

State option required
yes
Child at home
yes
Parental income
not counted
Child resource limit
usually $2,000
Level of care
hospital, nursing facility or ICF/IID; any one
Disability
SSI medical standard where applicable: documented acute leukemia meets listing 113.06A for at least 24 months from diagnosis or relapse, or at least 12 months after transplant, whichever is later; the agency still verifies evidence

Decisions this site cannot make: Disability · Institutional level of care · Cost-effectiveness (some states)

Expect friction on: Detailed medical packet with recent signatures · Re-review at the level-of-care date

The trap: The level-of-care test is separate from the disability test: the child must need the care of a hospital, a nursing facility, or an intermediate-care facility, any one of them. The doctor's description of daily care decides it, not the diagnosis.

What changes by state: Whether it exists, the name (Georgia calls it the Deeming Waiver), the premium (none in most. Nevada charges), the level-of-care form and how long a letter is valid.

Where I read this

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