• All Indiana Medicaid programs have prescription drug coverage.medikamente image by Daniel Fuhr from Fotolia.com
  
  Understanding basic Indiana Medicaid laws involves knowing the eligibility categories. These not only determine eligibility but the range of benefits provided. Age, income, family size and health status are all factors in determining eligibility. Understanding how transfers of assets affect eligibility and the effects of getting benefits on an individual's estate are also important. The Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning supervises the program, contracting out responsibilities to private companies.
  
  

Children Eligibility

• The Indiana Children’s Heath Insurance Plan—also known as Hoosier Healthwise Plans A and C—are available for those under 19. Parents may have to pay a premium for plan C policies. Family size determines income limits for plan A: five family members or more, $3,224; four members, $2,757; three members, $2,289; two members, $1,822. According to the Indiana Medicaid eligibility guide these limits are accurate through March 31, 2011.
  
  Plan C sets these limits for family size: five members or more, $5,373; four members, $4,594; three members, $3,815; and two members, $3,036. According to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, plan C requires small copayments for certain services. Plans cover most medical services, including mental health and dental care.
  
  

Pregnant Women

• Pregnant women can get Hoosier Healthwise package A or B. Monthly income limits for package B (through March 31, 2011) are according to family size: five or more, $4,299; four, $3,675; three, $3,052; two, $2,429. The unborn child counts as a family member.
  
  Package A eligibility is based on family assets and has higher income limits. Coverage of prenatal services begins while the application is pending. Both packages end three months after the baby is born.
  
  

Traditional Medicaid

• Adults in a low-income family have asset and income limits (through March 31, 2011). For a healthy adult to get traditional Medicaid in a family of five or more the total income must be less than $405; four, $346.50; three, $288; two, 229.50. This Medicaid may act as secondary insurance to Medicare or another private carrier. A spend-down, similar to a deductible, may be required of traditional Medicaid recipients. The insurance covers most medical services, including mental health and dental care.
  
  According to Indiana Medicaid, the aged, blind, disabled, those who get room and board assistance, wards of the court and foster children may be eligible for traditional Medicaid services under the Care Select, MED Works and Waivers Programs.
  
  

Transfer of Assets and Effect on Estates

• Transferring assets for less than what they are worth, within a five-year period before applying, may result in the denial of certain Medicaid services. As stated by Indiana Medicaid, services denied differ for an institutionalized applicant as opposed to one who is not.
  
  When a Medicaid member dies, the state can recover costs for services rendered funds from the person's probate estate. According to Indiana.gov, all assets of the estate are subject to recovery except insurance policies or annuities, “personal effects, keepsakes and ornaments of the deceased,” and those protected by an Indiana Partnership long-term care insurance policy.