Basic Eligibility

• Besides low incomes, those eligible for Medicaid must be U.S. citizens or hold permanent legal resident status. Income eligibility depends on the particular state. Children of illegal immigrants may be eligible for coverage even though their parents are not, as long as the child was born in the U.S. or otherwise holds lawful admittance to the country. Children who live with people who are not their parents also may be eligible for Medicaid assistance, as the caretaker's income does not count for eligibility purposes.
  
  

Pregnant Women

• Medicaid encourages low-income pregnant women, or those who believe they are pregnant, who lack health insurance coverage to look into Medicaid eligibility, whether single or married. Babies born to women on Medicaid are automatically covered.
  
  

Mandatory Eligibility

• To receive federal Medicaid funding, states must allow certain groups of people to receive Medicaid coverage. These include families with children meeting income limitations, those receiving Supplementary Security Income, children under 6 years old and pregnant women with family incomes below or at 133 percent of the federal poverty level, and children up to age 19 whose family incomes are below or at the federal poverty level. Those children in foster care or adopted under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act also receive mandatory Medicaid eligibility.
  
  

Optional Eligibility

• States receive matching funds from the federal government if covering "categorically needy" people under the state Medicaid program. These include certain low-income specially targeted children, and those under age 21, who may meet income requirements for welfare under Aid to Families with Dependent Children but are not otherwise ineligible for funding under AFDC. Other potential optional Medicaid recipients include low-income institutionalized people, those receiving supplementary payments from their state, legally blind or disabled adults whose incomes fall below the federal poverty level but are above the mandatory Medicaid amounts, and those who could be in institutions but are cared for at home by family members or local service organizations.