New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 8 - SOCIAL SERVICES › Chapter 206 - MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY - CYFD CHILDREN (CATEGORIES 006, 017, 037, 046, 047, 060, 061, 066 and 086) › Part 500 - INCOME AND RESOURCE STANDARDS › Section 8.206.500.18 - UNEARNED INCOME

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
Unearned incomes includes but is not limited to social
				  security benefits, child support, gifts, contributions, and all other cash
				  income which does not meet the definition of earned income. Unearned income is
				  counted in the gross amount received.
A. Unearned income exclusions and disregards:
				Certain amounts of unearned income are excluded from the computation of
				unearned income.
(1) Educational assistance
				exclusions: Bona fide loans from private individuals or commercial institutions
				for education assistance are excluded from unearned income. Income from work
				study whose purpose is to assist with educational expenses are excluded from
				unearned income. Educational grants and scholarships whose purpose is to assist
				with education expenses are excluded regardless of the actual utilization of
				the funds.
(2) Child nutrition and
				school lunch benefit exclusion: Child nutritional and school lunch benefits
				provided in the form of money payments, vouchers, or foodstuffs authorized
				under the Child Nutritional Act and the National School Lunch Act are
				excluded.
(3) Income tax return
				income exclusion: State and federal income tax refunds are excluded from
				consideration as income. Tax refunds are considered resources.
(4) Native American payment exclusion:
				Certain payments to Native Americans can be excluded which include:
(a) per capita payment of tribal funds
				authorized by the tribe or by the secretary of the United States department of
				the interior; payments received and distributed by the bureau of Indian affairs
				(BIA) as a trustee for an individual members of a tribe, refer to as individual
				Indian monies (IAMB) are not considered as per capita payments;
(b) interest derived from retrained per
				capita payments is disregarded if the retained per capita payments have not
				been commingled with other savings; and
(c) BIA general assistance payments made to
				disabled tribal members by the BIA;
(d) any tax exempt payment made under the
				Alaska Native Claims Act are excluded from consideration as unearned
				income.
(5) Settlement
				fund payment exclusions: Payments received from the agent orange settlement
				fund or from any other fund established pursuant to the agent orange product
				liability litigation settlement are excluded from unearned income. Payments
				received from the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act are excluded from
				unearned income. Payments by the remembrance, responsibility and the future
				foundation to individual survivors forced into slave labor by the Nazis are
				excluded from unearned income.
(6)
				Payments made by division of vocational rehabilitation: Any payment made by the
				division of vocation rehabilitation to an applicant/recipient in training to
				help them meet additional training costs are disregarded. The entire payment is
				disregarded unless specific portion is designated for basic maintenance and the
				applicant/ recipient is maintaining only one resident. The portion designated
				for basic maintenance is considered income.
(7) Child support disregard: The first $50 of
				child support payments received in a month from an absent parent which
				represents payment on a support obligation for the month is disregarded in the
				eligibility determination and redetermination process.
(a) If multiple child support payments are
				received such as cases where more than one parent is paying or a parent makes
				weekly or biweekly payments, the disregard is allowed only once during the
				month.
(b) If a payment included
				both current support and arrearage, the disregard is allowed only on the
				current support.
(8)
				Disregard for payments made by CYFD: Payment made by CYFD to a third party on
				behalf of an applicant/ recipient are not considered income to the
				applicant/recipient.
(9) Chafee
				independent living assistance recipients: All unearned income of an
				applicant/recipient between 18 and 21 years of age is excluded.