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

Childhood Cancer Lantern
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Massachusetts program

MassHealth that ignores parents’ income (Kaileigh Mulligan)

MassHealth for a child under 18 who needs intensive care at home [Kaileigh Mulligan]. Parents’ income is left out.

What it is

MassHealth for a child under 18 who needs intensive care at home [Kaileigh Mulligan]. Parents’ income is left out.

This route can matter when your child needs intensive nursing at home and family income is high. MassHealth looks at the child’s own money and care needs. A cancer diagnosis alone does not establish eligibility.

Eligibility rules
  • Your child must be under 18, live in Massachusetts and receive care at home.
  • The child’s own countable assets must be $2,000 or less. The monthly countable income standard is $72.80, with a deductible route above it.
  • Parents’ income and assets are disregarded. Money owned by the child still needs review.
  • MassHealth’s own nurse assesses whether the care your child needs at home is at hospital or nursing-home level.
  • Your child must meet every required finding within either the hospital branch or the separate skilled-nursing-facility branch. Home care must also be appropriate and cost no more than institutional care. MassHealth reviews the child’s finances, ownership, exclusions and allowable deductible bills.
What you get
  • Full MassHealth coverage when the child meets the care and financial rules.
  • Your income and savings are left out of this route’s financial test.
What the help covers
  • This is a strict clinical review, not a menu where one item is enough. Each care branch requires its own combination of nursing, physician, equipment, daily-living and therapy findings. The care team assesses the whole branch.
  • CommonHealth uses a disability decision without this institutional level-of-care test.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the social worker to request the Kaileigh Mulligan assessment from MassHealth.
  2. Bring a daily nursing log, equipment and medication lists, and the oncology team’s letter.
  3. Include information about money owned by your child and ask how CommonHealth compares.

MassHealth, with a clinical assessment of the level of care: 1-800-841-2900 · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • The application notice and MassHealth can identify the decision deadline for your route. The counselor can ask about missing information, temporary coverage and urgent care while you wait.
  • The oncology team and home nurse describe the care, equipment and physician oversight needed each day.
Good to know

This is a stricter care test than CommonHealth. MassHealth needs a description of the actual nursing and equipment your child needs.

Other details
  • A review of ownership and exclusions is needed before treating a gift or account as the child’s available money.
  • The hospital-level test needs, every day, at least two complex nursing tasks and life-sustaining equipment such as a ventilator or IV nutrition, with a doctor involved at least weekly, plus daily-living help beyond your child’s age or therapy five times a week. The discharge team can say whether your child’s care looks like that.
  • The other route is for a child who cannot walk and has a severe developmental condition; it rarely fits a child with leukemia.
  • Applicable resource exclusions can include a home, household effects, personal property and a vehicle. Accounts, trusts and ownership need individual review; these exclusions do not exempt every asset held for a child.

Federal background: A Medicaid option you may hear called Katie Beckett.

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Does our child’s care meet the Kaileigh Mulligan test, and would it help more than CommonHealth? Could you explain the tradeoffs and help us request both reviews if appropriate?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know whether our child’s care needs open a route that leaves out parents’ 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 programme by name and describe the daily nursing honestly, hour by hour.

Your social worker

The oncology team and the home-care nurse write what care the child needs each day.

The care team

A letter naming the skilled nursing done daily, the equipment and the physician management.

Who decides
MassHealth decides, on a clinical assessment of the level of care your child needs at home.
Ask your social worker
“Our income is over the line but my child needs nursing at home. Can we ask MassHealth for the Kaileigh Mulligan Program and the level-of-care assessment, and ask for CommonHealth at the same time?”

How to apply

First step: Ask MassHealth for the Kaileigh Mulligan Program by name and for the level-of-care assessment.

  1. Ask MassHealth for the Kaileigh Mulligan Program by name if home care is heavy.
  2. Ask the oncology and home-care team to describe the daily nursing in writing.
  3. Ask for CommonHealth in the same breath, in case the level-of-care test is not met.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask MassHealth for the Kaileigh Mulligan Program by name and for the assessment. The programme page is the state’s entry point.

What to gather

  • A written description of the nursing done at home each day
  • Equipment and medication lists
  • The oncology team’s letter

How long: MassHealth has 90 days on a disability-based application.

What a yes looks like

A MassHealth notice with coverage dates and the level-of-care approval behind it.

What a no looks like, and the next move

A no usually turns on the level of care. Ask what the assessment found, and pursue CommonHealth, which has no level-of-care test.

Watch out

  • A leukaemia diagnosis on its own does not meet the test; the assessment looks for daily skilled nursing and life-sustaining equipment.
  • The child’s own money counts: countable assets over $2,000 are a bar, so keep gift money out of the child’s name.
  • Ask for CommonHealth at the same time, in case the level-of-care test is not met.

The numbers and the rules

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

What it is worth

Full MassHealth with parents’ income and assets left out. The child’s own countable assets must be $2,000 or less and countable income $72.80 a month or less, or a deductible applies.

  • $2,000 — Child’s countable asset limit
  • $72.8/month — Child’s countable monthly income standard
  • $18 — Upper age

Covers: The full MassHealth benefit set · Home nursing and equipment approved as the alternative to institutional care

Legal protection: Parents’ income and assets are not considered · Care at home must be appropriate and cost MassHealth no more than institutional care

What it costs the family: No parental income test. Where the child’s own income is above $72.80 a month a deductible applies.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
younger than 18
Age max exclusive
18
Income
parents’ income and assets disregarded; child countable assets at or under $2,000 and countable income at or under $72.80 a month, or a deductible
Level of care
All required findings within either the hospital-level or skilled-nursing-facility branch of 130 CMR 519.007(A)(3)–(4), plus appropriate home care and the cost test; a single symptom, equipment need or cancer diagnosis does not establish the test.
Residency
Massachusetts
Processing standard
90 days on a disability-based application

The trap: Diagnosis alone does not qualify. The assessment looks for two skilled-nursing services daily, weekly physician management, ongoing invasive life-sustaining technology or dialysis, and help with daily activities beyond the child’s age or therapy five times a week.

Where I read this

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