Screening for Medicaid Eligibility Under the Pickle Amendment

Gordon Bonnyman of the Tennessee Justice Center offers a quick and easy method of screening for Medicaid eligibility under the Pickle Amendment, which requires that an individual be deemed an SSI recipient under certain circumstances.

The Pickle Amendment is a vitally important category of Medicaid eligibility. Hundreds of thousands of former SSI beneficiaries are potentially eligible, but most are not enrolled in Medicaid because they have not been screened. The Amendment allows individuals to qualify for Medicaid by subtracting from the countable portion of their Social Security income any cost-of-living adjustments received since they last received SSI. See the following chart for an easy way to screen clients for Pickle Amendment coverage.