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

Childhood Cancer Lantern
Search Saved

West Virginia program

Medicaid that leaves out parents' income (CDCSP)

CDCSP is a Medicaid route for children with substantial care needs at home. It leaves out parents’ income.

What it is

CDCSP is a Medicaid route for children with substantial care needs at home. It leaves out parents’ income.

A family over the ordinary Medicaid income limit can still explore CDCSP. The child must need a level of care usually provided in a facility. A cancer diagnosis alone does not establish that need.

Eligibility rules
  • CDCSP is West Virginia’s TEFRA/Katie Beckett Medicaid option, not a general cancer grant. The child must meet the disability and facility-level care tests, be under 19 and living at home with biological or adoptive parents, and be ineligible for SSI because of the parents’ income or resources; the child’s own financial limits still apply.
  • Only your child's own money counts: under $2,982 a month in income and $2,000 in savings.
  • Care at home cannot cost more than care in the facility.
What you get
  • Full child Medicaid coverage if the care and financial tests are met.
  • Parents’ income stays outside the financial test.
  • Home nursing and rides under Medicaid’s separate service rules.
What the coverage means
  • EPSDT services, including approved private duty nursing and personal care, follow Medicaid’s benefit rules.
  • Children under 21 are exempt from Medicaid copays. The CDCSP office confirms any separate program charge before you agree to it; Medicaid eligibility alone does not establish every service cost.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask your hospital social worker to confirm the current CDCSP packet and assessment contact with the Bureau for Medical Services.
  2. Ask the oncology team to describe the care your child needs on the hardest days at home.
  3. Have your child’s income and asset records, medical records and SSI denial notice ready.

Bureau for Medical Services CDCSP office: 304-356-4867; it confirms the current assessment contact and packet. · Official page ↗

After you apply
  • BMS coordinates the medical review, and DoHS decides financial eligibility. The CDCSP office confirms the current intake and assessment contractor.
  • The packet has clinical forms and a financial worksheet; the assessment route decides which ones your child needs. You need an SSI denial letter first, and a disability-based decision is due within 90 days. Children on this route stay outside the Medicaid managed-care plans.
Good to know

The child’s own money counts even though parents’ income does not. The application brochure asks for an SSI denial notice.

Other details
  • BMS publishes different clinical forms for the available assessment routes. Your care team and the CDCSP office can identify the forms your child actually needs; not every listed form is automatically required.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could our child’s care needs qualify for Medicaid without counting our income? What would this add to our insurance, what would it cost, and could you help with the assessment and application?”

Why I’m asking: Ordinary income limits may miss how much care our child needs at home.

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 packet, gather the medical records, and send the SSI denial notice with it.

Your social worker

The oncology social worker gathers the records; the doctor writes what level of care your child needs at home.

The care team

The medical file is the whole case. Ask for a letter describing care on the hardest days.

Who decides
BMS coordinates medical review and DoHS determines financial eligibility.
Ask your social worker
“We are over the Medicaid line. Can we start the Children with Disabilities Community Service Program, and can the team write the level-of-care letter?”

How to apply

First step: Ask your social worker to confirm the packet with BMS at 304-356-4867 and arrange the care-team evidence.

  1. Ask your social worker to confirm the current packet and assessment contact through BMS at 304-356-4867.
  2. Discuss the policy’s initial SSI-denial requirement with your social worker before deciding on the applications.
  3. Ask the oncology team for a letter describing the level of care your child needs at home.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask your social worker to confirm the current CDCSP assessment contact and packet with BMS at 304-356-4867. The policy requires an initial SSI denial related to parents’ income or resources.

What to gather

  • Medical records and the oncology team's letter
  • The SSI decision notice
  • Your child's own bank or benefit statements

How long: A disability-based Medicaid application generally has a 90-day decision standard, with limited exceptions. The CDCSP office confirms the deadline and assessment schedule.

What a yes looks like

Medicaid in your child's name with your income left out of the sum.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Read whether the no was about the level of care or about your child's own money, and appeal by the date on the notice with a fuller medical letter.

Watch out

  • The test is the level of care, not the word leukaemia.
  • Money in your child's own name counts. More than $2,000 they can withdraw will stop this.
  • The policy requires an SSI denial related to parents’ finances; your social worker can help confirm the sequence and paperwork.

Dates that change this

2015-06-01: The programme manual on the state site is from 2015 and is the newest posted version. The brochure and the April 2025 eligibility sheet agree with it on the money tests. (not yet confirmed against the final rule)

2026-01-01: The child income limit is three times the federal SSI rate. At the 2026 rate of $994 that is $2,982 a month; the state publishes the percentage, not the dollars.

The numbers and the rules

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

What it is worth

Full Medicaid for the child with parents' income left out. The child's own income limit is $2,982 a month and the child's asset limit is $2,000.

  • $2,982/month — Child's own income limit, three times the 2026 SSI rate
  • $2,000 — Child's own asset limit

Covers: Everything Medicaid covers for a child, including EPSDT · Private duty nursing and personal care when approved · Rides to treatment

Legal protection: Only the child's income and assets are counted

What it costs the family: Children under 21 are exempt from Medicaid copays. BMS confirms any separate CDCSP charge quoted to the family.

The eligibility facts, as published

Age
Under 19 and living at home with biological or adoptive parents; SSI ineligibility must be tied to parents’ income or resources, with separate child financial and clinical tests.
Age max exclusive
19
Income
only the child's own income, limited to 300 percent of the SSI rate
Resources
the child's own assets, limited to $2,000
Level of care
acute care hospital, nursing facility, or intermediate care facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities
Cost test
care at home cannot cost more than care in the facility
Statute
TEFRA of 1982; West Virginia's election is described in BMS Chapter 526
Processing standard
Generally 90 days for a disability-based Medicaid application, with limited documented exceptions; BMS confirms the applicable deadline.

Decisions this site cannot make: BMS coordinates medical review and DoHS determines financial eligibility. · Institutional level-of-care determination · Cost comparison against facility care

Expect friction on: The CDCSP office confirms the applicable decision deadline and assessment schedule. · The 2015 manual is the newest posted version · Members in this group are not in a managed-care plan under that manual

The trap: A diagnosis is not the test. The file has to show that your child needs hospital, nursing-facility or intermediate-care-facility level care, and that keeping them home costs no more than that. Ask the oncology team to write what care looks like on the worst days, not the best.

Where I read this

← Back to your options