MS Manual Transmittal 00-9

Sections to be Deleted	Sections to be Added
MS 5000-5913 (Including old Family Planning Waiver)	MS 12100-12470
Table of Contents MS 5000-5913	Table of Contents MS 12100-12470

Medical Services Policy regarding Medicaid coverage for pregnant women has been revised, reformatted and renumbered. All policy regarding coverage for pregnant women will now be found in the 12000 section of the Medical Services Policy Manual.

A section of policy has been added regarding coverage for unborn children and alien pregnant women through the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The bulk of the new policy is found at MS 12180, with smaller additions at MS 12150 #2 and #6 and at MS 12200.

Pregnant women who qualify under this policy will be either undocumented aliens, non-qualified aliens or qualified aliens who have not yet met the 5-year residency requirement. These women are eligible for coverage based on enhanced funding from SCHIP. A special indicator of “Nonqualify Alien Preg Wom” must be entered when approving the application so that eligibility can be tracked to receive the enhanced funding. Therefore, the caseworker must verify alien status before authorizing coverage. Retroactive coverage can be given, but not prior to July 1, 2004.

The special indicator of “Nonqualify Alien Preg Wom” will not be available in the system until the next ANSWER Release which has a tentative implementation date of July 12, 2004. Applications taken from July 1^st until the time of the ANSWER Release can be entered in the system but not approved until the implementation of the release or later.

Please note that this group of pregnant women is not eligible for Presumptive Eligibility. Also, newborns born to these women are not eligible for Medicaid in the Newborn category. Applications for these newborns should be processed in the appropriate ARKids category. County offices who receive DCO-645s on these newborns can use the DCO-645 along with the original application for the PW to determine eligibility for the appropriate ARKids category. A new ARKids application will not be required in this situation. The DCO-645 is currently being revised to include a question concerning if the child was enumerated at birth to assist in this process.