• Qualified applicants can have their health-related bills covered by one of Nevada's Medicaid programs.Operation image by Stephan Morrosch from Fotolia.com
  
  The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services oversees the Medicaid program within the state. Medicaid is a medical insurance program that provides health care coverage for those who qualify. Nevada offers several Medicaid programs.
  
  

Qualified Persons

• Medicaid recipients usually fall into one of four categories: elderly, disabled, pregnant women and children from limited-income households. Elderly persons are those age 65 and older. Disabled persons must be considered disabled by the Social Security Administration. To qualify as a limited-income household, a family must gross an income less than the federal poverty rate for its household size.
  
  

Programs

• The Child Health Assurance Program (CHAP) is available to pregnant women. A woman who qualifies receives continued services for her newborn baby until his first birthday. A woman also receives post-pregnancy services. Children may be covered under this program until age of 6.
  
  The Nevada Check Up program is a low-cost insurance program for uninsured children. There is a monthly fee based on income.
  
  Medical Assistance for Aged, Blind and Disabled (MAABD) is provided to disabled children, working disabled people who still meet poverty guidelines, recipients of disability payments, nursing-facility patients who meet poverty guidelines and retired individuals who meet poverty guidelines.
  
  

Income Guidelines

• Income is the primary factor when determining eligibility for a Medicaid program in Nevada. Each program requires individuals to be at or under a certain percentage of the poverty level to qualify. For example, CHAP requires that a child under the age of 6 be from a family whose gross income is less than 133 percent of the poverty level. Once the child reaches age 6, the same family must gross less than 100 percent of the poverty level for the child to continue to qualify. MAABD applicants who are disabled and working must gross below 250 percent of the poverty level to qualify, while applicants residing in a nursing home must gross below 300 percent of poverty level.