Federal, exists in every state
Medicaid without counting parents’ income (Katie Beckett)
Nevada’s Katie Beckett option can cover a child under 19 with heavy care needs at home.
What it is
Nevada’s Katie Beckett option can cover a child under 19 with heavy care needs at home.
Nevada offers Katie Beckett as a Medicaid state-plan option, rather than a capped waiver. It can cover a child whose family is over the ordinary income line. A disability review, care assessment and cost comparison decide whether it fits.
Eligibility rules
- Children must be under 19. Their own income must be at or below 300% of the SSI rate, with no more than $2,000 in counted resources.
- Nevada’s current Katie Beckett page requires a child under 19 to meet disability rules and a hospital, nursing-facility or intermediate-care-facility-for-individuals-with-intellectual-disabilities level of care. Home care must be appropriate and its estimated cost must not exceed institutional care. The Medicaid team must assess these tests; your answers here cannot do so.
- For 2026, 300% of the $994 federal SSI rate is $2,982 a month. The applicable child resource limit is $2,000. DSS applies the financial test for the actual category; SSI-linked coverage can still count parental finances.
What you get
- Full Nevada Medicaid if your child meets all the separate tests.
Premium and timing
- Parents’ income is not counted for Katie Beckett eligibility, but can affect a family premium. The Medicaid team confirms the current adopted rate chart and the income calculation. The August 14, 2025 eligibility manual gives parents 10 calendar days to return the initial premium agreement. Without it, the agency assesses $250 a month rather than closing the case just for the missing signature. A verified American Indian or Alaska Native child is exempt. A premium is charged per family, not per child.
- Application standards are generally 45 days, or 90 days when a disability decision is needed, with permitted exceptions. These standards do not guarantee a service start date.
- An unsigned later premium amendment leaves the existing premium unchanged. Payment delinquency of 60 days or two full months can trigger disenrollment under notice rules.
If you decide to apply
- Ask the hospital enrollment specialist for a Katie Beckett review through Access Nevada.
- Ask the oncologist to describe the daily care your child needs and whether home care is appropriate.
Nevada Medicaid: Katie Beckett · Official page ↗
Good to know
A monthly premium may depend on parents’ income. The Medicaid team confirms the amount and any exemption; the initial agreement has its own deadline.
Related Nevada card: Medicaid that ignores your income (Katie Beckett).
Official sources
- Katie Beckett Eligibility Option (Nevada Medicaid, section 1902(e)(3))
- Katie Beckett level-of-care and home-cost wording conflict (reviewed September 21, 2026)
- Katie Beckett level-of-care and home-cost wording conflict (reviewed September 21, 2026)
- Adopted Katie Beckett premiums, income and missing agreements (reviewed September 21, 2026)
- Adopted Katie Beckett premiums, income and missing agreements (reviewed September 21, 2026)
“Could Katie Beckett cover our child, and would its premium and care requirements make it worthwhile for us?”
Why I’m asking: I want to understand Medicaid with parents’ income left out before we gather the medical records.
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.
- Get the state packet this week.
- Have the clinician describe every daily task and what happens without it.
- 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
- Medicaid Program — Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, read August 27, 2026
- Full List of Medicaid Waivers and Programs — Kids’ Waivers, read August 27, 2026
- 42 CFR 435.912: Timely determination of eligibility — Cornell LII (eCFR mirror), read September 7, 2026