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

Childhood Cancer Lantern
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Maryland program

Medicaid that ignores parents' income (Model Waiver)

Medical Assistance that leaves parents' income out. The Model Waiver is for children who need hospital or nursing-facility levels of care at home.

What it is

Medical Assistance that leaves parents' income out. The Model Waiver is for children who need hospital or nursing-facility levels of care at home.

The Model Waiver looks at your child's finances separately from yours. It can open coverage when ordinary income rules get in the way. The medical test is demanding, and a waiting list means approval is not immediate coverage.

Eligibility rules
  • Your child must live in Maryland and be 21 or younger when approved.
  • Only your child’s own income counts, and it must be under about $2,982 a month in 2026.
  • A doctor must certify nursing-facility or chronic-hospital level care. Maryland also assesses home needs and whether home care costs no more than institutional care.
  • Your income and savings do not count. Your child’s own savings must be under $2,000 (or $2,500 on one route); the worker tells you which applies.
What you get
  • Full Medical Assistance based on your child's own finances.
  • Home and community services in place of hospital or nursing-facility care.
What the help covers
  • The waiver gives full Medical Assistance plus the approved home services.
  • The waiver is separate from the former MCHP premium program. Maryland's waiver rule allows some of your child's own income to go toward care after protected allowances and deductions. The waiver team confirms any premium, copays and monthly contribution in a written calculation for your child's category.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the oncology team whether your child's daily needs could meet the required level of care.
  2. Contact The Coordinating Center for a screening, with the care plan and your child's financial information.
  3. Ask the team to help with the medical certification and home-care assessment if you decide to proceed.

Maryland Department of Health, with intake through The Coordinating Center · 410-987-1048 · Official page ↗

After you apply
  • The Coordinating Center handles intake and the prioritized waiting list. The Department of Health makes the eligibility decision.
  • The Coordinating Center discusses referrals at 410-987-1048. Maryland Health decides eligibility and enrollment. The intake team confirms the current referral form, priority category, open slots and expected wait. A referral inquiry is not an enrollment approval.
Good to know

Cancer alone does not establish eligibility. The care assessment and waiting list are separate hurdles.

Other details
  • Ordinary child coverage is a separate route when household income fits. The waiver does not replace the need to check that application.
  • The Model Waiver is Maryland's identified route for medically fragile children needing institutional-level care at home. The local health department can confirm whether a separate Katie Beckett, TEFRA or Family Opportunity Act category applies to your child. Each route needs its own eligibility decision.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Does our child's care meet the Model Waiver's medical test? What would we gain, what would the wait and paperwork involve, and could you help with screening if it makes sense?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know whether our child's care needs could open coverage that does not count parents' earnings.

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

Call 410-987-1048 to be screened, and ask the oncology team in writing whether it can certify the level of care.

Your social worker

The oncology social worker says plainly whether your child's care today reaches a nursing-facility or chronic-hospital level, so you are not waiting on a queue you cannot join.

The care team

The doctor certifies the level of care and takes part in the home-care assessment.

Who decides
The Maryland Department of Health decides, on a level-of-care certification and a home-care assessment. The Coordinating Center handles intake and the waiting list.
Ask your social worker
“Does my child's care right now reach nursing-facility or chronic-hospital level? If it does, can we start the Model Waiver screening today, and if it does not, what would change that?”

How to apply

First step: Call The Coordinating Center on 410-987-1048 and ask to be screened for the Model Waiver.

  1. Call The Coordinating Center on 410-987-1048 this week and ask to be screened.
  2. Ask the oncology team whether it can certify nursing-facility or chronic-hospital level of care for your child right now.
  3. Apply for ordinary Medical Assistance in parallel; the two do not cancel each other.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Call The Coordinating Center on 410-987-1048 and ask to be screened for the Model Waiver.

What to gather

  • Medical records showing what your child needs at home
  • The oncology team's view on level of care
  • The child's own income and assets, not the parents'

How long: No published decision clock and no published waiting count. Ask The Coordinating Center for its current position when you call.

What a yes looks like

Full Medical Assistance for your child with the parents' income left out, plus home services in place of institutional care.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Usually the level-of-care test, not the money. Ask what level the assessment found and what would change it, and ask the local health department to screen for every other category.

Watch out

  • This needs a real level-of-care certification. A child in ordinary home care after chemotherapy will usually not reach it.
  • There is a prioritised waiting list and nobody publishes its length. Do not treat this as coverage you already have.
  • Whether Maryland has a Katie Beckett category as well could not be checked; the document was too large to open. Ask the local health department to screen your child for every category.

Dates that change this

2026-09-10: Federal listings identify this waiver as 40118.R08.00. The approved capacity, the reserved places and the current waiting count were not published, so nobody can tell you how long the queue is.

The numbers and the rules

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

What it is worth

Full Medical Assistance judged on the child alone. The income test is 300 percent of the federal SSI benefit, which is $994 a month in 2026, and assets are capped at $2,000, or $2,500 in some categories.

  • $994/month — 2026 federal SSI individual benefit used as the base of the 300 percent test
  • $2,000 — Countable asset cap stated in the Coverage Group Guide

Covers: Everything ordinary Medical Assistance covers · Home and community services in place of hospital or nursing-facility care

Legal protection: The applicant is assessed as a household of one, as if institutionalised and separated from the family unit

What it costs the family: The waiver team provides a written premium, copay and cost-of-care calculation. COMAR 10.09.27.05 allows some of the child's own income to be applied to care after protected allowances and deductions.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
21 or younger when approved
Age max exclusive
22
Income
Child's own countable income at or under 300% of the federal SSI benefit (COMAR 10.09.27.05); the family's income is not counted
Assets
The SSI-related categorically needy child route uses a $2,000 countable-resource limit. The one-person medically needy route uses $2,500. Parents' assets are excluded from the child-only test; the agency identifies the category, ownership and exclusions.
Level of care
Certified nursing-facility or chronic-hospital level of care, a comprehensive home-care assessment by the Department or its designee, and a finding that home care would not cost more than institutional care
Residency
Maryland
Waiting list
A prioritised waiting list exists and applications are processed in the order received. No count, no as-of date and no measured wait were published.
Waiver id
CMS waiver 40118.R08.00

The trap: This is a real level-of-care test, not a diagnosis test. Maryland's route is narrower than the Katie Beckett category some states use, and whether Maryland has a Katie Beckett option at all could not be verified: the state plan attachment that would settle it was too large to open. The intake organisation says there is a prioritised waiting list and applications are handled in the order they arrive, and it publishes no number and no measured wait.

Where I read this

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