New Hampshire program
Medicaid without counting parents' income
NH Medicaid for a child with severe disabilities who needs substantial care at home. Parents’ income is left out.
What it is
NH Medicaid for a child with severe disabilities who needs substantial care at home. Parents’ income is left out.
Some children need more care than ordinary parenting. This route can open Medicaid without counting parents’ income. Your care team describes the daily tasks and risks; DHHS decides the disability, care, safety and cost tests.
Eligibility rules
- Your child must be under 19.
- The care must be at the level of a hospital, psychiatric hospital, nursing facility or intermediate care facility.
- Parents’ income is left out, but the child’s own income and resources still matter. DHHS must confirm the current child-only limits, income calculation and excluded accounts or property. A broad family-savings answer does not decide this test.
What you get
- Full NH Medicaid if the medical and financial tests are met.
- Parents’ earnings do not count toward this route.
What the help covers
- Estimated care at home must cost no more than Medicaid would pay for appropriate institutional care.
If you decide to apply
- Ask the district office for Home Care for Children With Severe Disabilities on the NH EASY application.
- Ask the oncology team to describe the daily care, and gather the child’s own income and savings records.
NH Department of Health and Human Services · 1-844-275-3447 · Official page ↗
After you apply
- DHHS reviews the medical description and cost comparison. A description of each daily task helps explain the care needed.
Good to know
A cancer diagnosis alone does not meet the care test. The child’s own money still matters.
Other details
- This is New Hampshire’s Katie Beckett option under RSA 167:3-e and RSA 167:3-f.
Official sources
- RSA 167:3-e, Home Care for Children With Severe Disabilities
- RSA 167:3-f, Recipient Eligibility
- RSA 167:3-c, Eligibility
- New Hampshire Administrative Rules, He-W 800 (medical assistance)
- NH Healthy Families — How to Enroll
- part 435 — www.ecfr.gov
- NH Medicaid rules: He-W 506 appeals, 508 HCCSD and 511 HIPP
- NH Medicaid rules: He-W 500
- NH Medicaid Member Handbook — www.wellsense.org
- 231 home care for children with severe disabilities hc csd mam.htm — www.dhhs.nh.gov
“Could our child’s daily care needs qualify for Medicaid without counting our income? What are the tradeoffs, and could you help us and the team with the application?”
Why I’m asking: I want to know whether the care our child needs opens coverage 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
Name the category in the application and gather the daily-care description from the team.
Your social worker
The oncology team writes what the child needs each day; the social worker sends it with the application.
The care team
The doctor describes the daily care in terms of what a hospital or nursing facility would give.
- Who decides
- The NH Department of Health and Human Services, on the doctor's description of daily care and the cost comparison.
- Ask your social worker
- “Our income is over the ordinary line. Can we apply for the severe-disability category that does not count our income, and can the team write the daily-care letter?”
How to apply
First step: Ask for this category by name on the NH EASY application, and ask the oncology team for a letter describing your child's daily care.
- Ask for Home Care for Children With Severe Disabilities by name in the same application.
- Ask the oncology team to write what the child needs every day, hour by hour, not the diagnosis.
- Check what is in accounts in the child's own name before filing.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Ask for this category by name on the NH EASY application or at the district office; the oncology team writes the description of daily care.
What to gather
- The oncology team's description of daily care
- The diagnosis date
- Balances in accounts in the child's own name
- Your New Hampshire address
How long: No published decision standard was found. Ask the district office for a date when you file.
What a yes looks like
A notice opening NH Medicaid for the child with the parents' income left out.
What a no looks like, and the next move
A no on the level of care, which is the doctor's description, not your income. Ask what the office needed and appeal by the date on the notice.
Watch out
- The test is the level of daily care, not the word leukemia.
- The child's own savings are counted, at $1,000.
- The estimated cost at home has to be no higher than the state's cost of institutional care.
If they say no, quote this: Home Care for Children With Severe Disabilities: RSA 167:3-e and RSA 167:3-f III(c)-(f).
Dates that change this
2026-09-10: DHHS confirms the current HCCSD application, joint medical review assessment instructions, any premium and the processing estimate. These operational details remain unresolved in the September 21, 2026 review. (not yet confirmed against the final rule)
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
Medicaid for a child under 19 who meets the disability, care, financial and cost tests, without counting parents’ income.
- $1,000 — Previously recorded child resource ceiling; current limit and exclusions require DHHS confirmation
Covers: Everything ordinary NH Medicaid covers · Home nursing and home health when the plan approves it · Rides to appointments
Legal protection: Rules requiring the deeming of parental income do not apply to this category · Coverage is for a child under 19 who is severely disabled
What it costs the family: No premium or cost share was published for this category. Ask when you apply.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Age
- under 19
- Age max exclusive
- 19
- Income
- The child’s own income and resources are reviewed. DHHS must confirm the current resource ceiling, exclusions and income calculation; parents’ income is not counted.
- Level of care
- care at the level of a hospital, psychiatric hospital, nursing facility or intermediate care facility
- Cost test
- estimated home care no higher than the estimated Medicaid cost of appropriate institutional care
- Statute
- RSA 167:3-e and RSA 167:3-f III(c), (d), (f), which name section 1902(e)(3) of the Social Security Act
The trap: The child’s own income and resources are reviewed. DHHS must confirm the current resource ceiling, exclusions and income calculation; parents’ income is not counted.
Where I read this
- RSA 167:3-e, Home Care for Children With Severe Disabilities — NH General Court, read September 10, 2026
- RSA 167:3-f, Recipient Eligibility — NH General Court, read September 10, 2026
- RSA 167:3-c, Eligibility — NH General Court, read September 10, 2026
- New Hampshire Administrative Rules, He-W 800 (medical assistance) — NH Office of Legislative Services, read September 10, 2026
- NH Healthy Families — How to Enroll — Centene / NH Healthy Families, read September 10, 2026