DMAS outlines Medicaid Works program, cites low enrollment and pending application changes

Sarah Cariano, director of eligibility, policy and outreach at the Department of Medical Assistance Services, gave an overview of Medicaid Works, a state coverage group intended to help people with disabilities who are working keep Medicaid benefits while earning higher incomes.

Cariano said the program was established at the federal level in 1999 and adopted by Virginia as an optional coverage group in 2007. She said the program covers standard Medicaid benefits and an alternative benefit package that includes personal care services that are otherwise typically available only through waiver programs. "Medicaid Works is 1 of our kind of smaller programs, within the Medicaid program," Cariano said during the stakeholder session.

Cariano and DMAS staff emphasized that enrollment in the program is very low: about 94 people are currently enrolled, compared with nearly 2,000,000 people in Virginia Medicaid overall. She described eligibility rules, the program's distinctive financial rules and a required work incentive account (referred to in the session as a WIN account) that lets enrolled individuals set aside earned income without that money counting against resource limits.

Why it matters: Advocates and DMAS staff said the…