South Carolina program
Medicaid that ignores your income (Katie Beckett)
Katie Beckett is a Medicaid route for children with serious care needs. It leaves out parents’ income and savings.
What it is
Katie Beckett is a Medicaid route for children with serious care needs. It leaves out parents’ income and savings.
A family’s earnings do not close this route. Your child must meet disability and care-needs tests as well as the limits on their own money. The state decides whether the care can safely happen at home.
Eligibility rules
- Your child must be 18 or younger and live in South Carolina.
- From January 1, 2026, your child’s own gross income must be below $2,982 monthly. Their countable resources must be $2,000 or less.
- Your child must meet the Social Security disability definition and an institutional level of care.
- Care at home must be appropriate and cost no more than the estimated institutional care.
What you get
- Full Healthy Connections coverage if your child qualifies.
- Parents’ income and savings are left out of the financial test.
What the help includes
- Covered treatment includes hospital care, chemotherapy and prescriptions. Rides and approved home nursing come through Healthy Connections.
- Katie Beckett gives full Medicaid. You can choose a Medicaid health plan or stay with state-paid coverage; ask the financial counselor which one your child's treatment team accepts before choosing.
If you decide to apply
- Ask the hospital social worker for help with Form 3290 and the Katie Beckett application packet.
- Have your child’s income and savings records ready. Ask the team to describe the care your child needs at home.
- If your family decides to continue, the social worker can help with the disability report and medical release.
South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, with a disability decision on the Social Security standard · 888-549-0820 · Official page ↗
If you decide to go ahead
- The packet has five parts: the application, a parent letter, a disability report, a checklist and a medical release. The social worker can fill them in with you.
- A disability-based decision is due within 90 days. If your child's situation is urgent, ask the social worker to request a faster review.
Good to know
This gives Medicaid coverage. Services available only through a waiver need a separate application.
Other details
- Qualifying does not require your child to move into an institution.
- Ordinary children’s Medicaid offers the same health coverage without the Katie Beckett medical review when its financial rules fit.
Official sources
“Could our child’s care needs qualify for Katie Beckett even if our earnings are too high? What costs or extra paperwork would it bring, and could you help us decide?”
Why I’m asking: I want to know whether our child can get Medicaid based on their own finances and care needs.
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 category by name, file Form 3290 with the disability report, and sign the medical release.
Your social worker
The oncology social worker gathers records and helps describe the level of care the child needs at home.
The care team
The team writes what the child cannot do and what care is needed, which is what the level-of-care test turns on.
- Who decides
- The Department of Health and Human Services, using the Social Security disability standard and a level-of-care review.
- Ask your social worker
- “We earn too much for the ordinary children's line. Can we apply for the Katie Beckett category, where only my child's own income and savings count?”
How to apply
First step: Call 888-549-0820, ask for the Katie Beckett category by name, and file Form 3290.
- Ask the office for the Katie Beckett category by name and file Form 3290.
- Ask the oncology team for the records that show what your child needs day to day, not just the diagnosis.
- Ask in writing what any premium or cost share would be, because it is not published.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Ask for the Katie Beckett category by name and file Form 3290, with the parent letter 3292 ME, the child disability report 3218-D ME, the checklist 3218-H ME and the medical release 921. Call 888-549-0820.
What to gather
- Form 3290 and the disability report 3218-D ME
- Clinic notes and the treatment plan
- Any income in the child's own name
- Any savings or account in the child's name
How long: No decision deadline or measured wait was published. Ask what the office expects and write down the date you filed.
What a yes looks like
A notice opening Healthy Connections in your child's name, with no household income test attached.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Look at whether the no was on the disability test, the level-of-care test or the child's own money. Appeal by the date on the notice and ask what document would change the answer.
Watch out
- Only the child's own income and savings count. A family that earns well can still get this.
- It gives Medicaid, not waiver services. Anything only a waiver covers needs a separate application.
- The premium or cost share is not published anywhere we could read. Ask for it in writing.
Dates that change this
2026-01-01: The $2,982 child income figure is the January 1, 2026 amount and is tied to the federal benefit rate, so it changes each January. The next figure was not published when this was checked.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
Full Healthy Connections coverage counting only the child's own money: gross income below $2,982 a month and savings at or below $2,000.
- $2,982/month — Child's own gross monthly income must be below this
- $2,000 — Child's own countable savings must be at or below this
Covers: Everything the ordinary children's category covers, including chemotherapy, hospital care, medicines, home nursing the plan approves, and rides
Legal protection: The parents' income and savings are not counted · Qualifying does not mean the child has to go into an institution
What it costs the family: A premium or cost share was NOT FOUND in the checked documents. Ask the office directly and get the answer in writing.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Age
- 18 or under
- Age max inclusive
- 18
- Income
- the child's own gross monthly income below $2,982 from January 1, 2026, tied to the federal benefit rate; the parents' income is not counted
- Resources
- the child's own countable savings at or below $2,000
- Medical
- meets the Social Security disability definition and an institutional level of care (intensive care for the intellectually disabled, nursing facility, or hospital)
- Home care test
- care at home must be appropriate and cost no more than the estimated cost of the institution
- Residency
- South Carolina
- Processing standard
- NOT FOUND
Decisions this site cannot make: Social Security disability standard · Institutional level-of-care review
Expect friction on: No published decision clock · The posted checklist 923 links to a different form
The trap: Two traps. First, families assume their pay rules it out; it does not, because only the child's money counts. Second, this gives Medicaid but not waiver services: if the child needs something only a waiver covers, that is a separate application.
Where I read this
- SCDHHS — Katie Beckett/TEFRA Eligibility Category flyer, August 2026 — South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, read September 10, 2026
- SCDHHS — Program Eligibility and Income Limits — South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, read September 10, 2026
- SCDHHS — Forms — South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, read September 10, 2026