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

Childhood Cancer Lantern
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Idaho program

Medicaid that leaves out the parents' income (Katie Beckett)

Medicaid for children with substantial care needs at home. It leaves parents' income out of the eligibility test.

What it is

Medicaid for children with substantial care needs at home. It leaves parents' income out of the eligibility test.

Katie Beckett can open Medicaid when parental income is too high for ordinary children's coverage. Idaho checks your child's own income and savings, then assesses the care needed at home. A cancer diagnosis alone does not settle that assessment.

Eligibility rules
  • Your child must be under 19, live at home and meet Social Security's disability criteria.
  • January 2026 published child limits are $3,002 a month and $2,000 in resources. The office applies income exclusions and checks which resources belong to the child. A household savings total does not establish the child's resources.
  • The child must need institutional-level care, be safely cared for outside an institution under a physician's plan, and meet the home-care cost comparison.
What you get
  • Full Medicaid coverage if your child meets the financial and care-needs tests.
  • Parents' income is left out of the eligibility calculation.
  • A family-income-based premium, with eligibility protected when you cannot afford it.
What the help covers
  • Covered benefits are Idaho Medicaid benefits. Specific home services still need their own clinical approval.
  • Parents' income does not decide eligibility, but it does set the monthly premium. If you cannot afford the premium, say so; coverage does not end for that reason.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask your social worker to discuss whether your child's care needs fit Katie Beckett.
  2. If you choose an assessment, ask for help confirming the current contractor, packet and steps. The oncology team can describe care needs and prepare the doctor's plan.

Liberty Healthcare assessments: 208-258-7980; Idaho Health and Welfare decides Medicaid eligibility. · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • Liberty Healthcare assesses the level of care after you return the packet. Health and Welfare makes the Medicaid decision.
Good to know

The premium still uses family income even though eligibility does not. The doctor's care plan needs to explain the hands-on care, not just the diagnosis.

Other details
  • Katie Beckett is one route for children under 19, not every disability-related Medicaid category. Around ages 18 and 19, the office can explain adult disability coverage separately from the child's existing services. Leukemia alone does not establish a waiver's care-level test.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could our child's care needs qualify for Katie Beckett, and what premium or extra paperwork would we face? If this fits, could you help with the assessment and doctor's care plan?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know whether our child's needs open Medicaid even if our income is too high.

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

File the application marked Katie Beckett, return the packet, and be at home for the assessment.

Your social worker

The oncology team writes what your child needs at home; the social worker chases the packet.

The care team

A letter or plan of care describing the nursing-level needs, and the physician's plan of care the rule asks for.

Who decides
The Department decides, after Liberty Healthcare's assessment of the level of care.
Ask your social worker
“Our income is over the line. Can you help us apply for Katie Beckett, which counts only our child's own income, and write the letter about the care needed at home?”

How to apply

First step: File the Medicaid application with Katie Beckett written at the top, and ask the team for the care letter.

  1. File the Medicaid application with Katie Beckett written at the top.
  2. Ask the oncology team for a letter describing the care your child needs at home, day and night.
  3. Return the Liberty Healthcare packet the week it arrives, and call 208-258-7980 if it does not come.
  4. Ask what the assessed premium will be, and say plainly if you cannot pay it.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Apply for Medicaid and write Katie Beckett at the top of the application. Liberty Healthcare then posts you a packet and arranges the level-of-care assessment.

What to gather

  • Medical records and the oncology team's description of care at home
  • Your child's own income and savings, if any
  • The date of diagnosis

How long: Idaho publishes no assessment deadline and no typical wait, so ask Liberty Healthcare when the packet arrives.

What a yes looks like

A Medicaid card for your child and a notice naming the assessed premium.

What a no looks like, and the next move

If the no was about level of care, ask exactly which criterion was not met and appeal by the date on the letter.

Watch out

  • The application page also carries a general household-income sentence that contradicts this programme. Ask for the Katie Beckett rule if a worker quotes it.
  • The premium uses family income, but inability to afford it does not end eligibility. The office confirms the amount and affordability process.
  • Leukemia alone is not the test. The test is the level of care your child needs at home, which is why the team's letter matters.

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

Full Idaho Medicaid for a child at home whose care needs are at the level of a hospital or a nursing facility, decided on the child's own income and savings.

  • $3,002 — Monthly income limit, counted on the child alone
  • $2,000 — Resource limit, counted on the child alone

Covers: The same full Idaho Medicaid cover as other children's Medicaid, including care at home

Legal protection: The parents' income is not what decides this door · Being unable to pay the assessed premium does not affect your child's eligibility

What it costs the family: A premium assessed on the family's income. The rule requires cost sharing where family income is above 150 percent of the poverty guideline; the dollar bands were NOT FOUND, so no premium figure is printed.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
under 19, living at home
Age max exclusive
19
Income
Published January 2026 child-income limit: $3,002 a month, with income exclusions applied by the agency. Child resources are limited to $2,000; household savings do not establish ownership.
Disability
A disability that meets the Social Security disability criteria.
Level of care
The child needs the level of care given in a medical institution, is appropriately cared for outside one under a physician's plan of care, and the estimated cost of care at home does not exceed the cost in a hospital, nursing facility or intermediate care facility.
Assessment
An independent assessment by Liberty Healthcare after you return the packet.
Statute note
The explicit approved clause disregarding parental income was not retrieved; Idaho's own programme description is what this record rests on.

Decisions this site cannot make: Liberty Healthcare independent level-of-care assessment · Department of Health and Welfare eligibility determination

Expect friction on: No published assessment deadline and no published typical wait · The premium schedule was not published, so no family can see the charge in advance

The trap: Idaho's Katie Beckett application page also carries a general sentence about household income limits, which contradicts the programme's own description. The programme page and the individual limits are the ones that describe this door. If a worker quotes the household line at you, ask for the Katie Beckett rule.

Where I read this

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