Important Notice about Health Coverage for Legal Immigrants

Beginning October 1, 2002, a new group of people became eligible for full MaineCare benefits. Single individuals or couples without children living at home can now qualify for MaineCare. Legal immigrants were mistakenly excluded from coverage under this new rule. This mistake has been corrected and legal immigrants are now eligible like anyone else for MaineCare under this new coverage if they:

• Are age 21 through 64;
• Have no minor children or minor children are not living with them;
• Are single with monthly income below $867 OR married and living with a spouse with combined monthly income below $1,167 (there are no deductions from gross income in determining eligibility for this group); and
• Have assets below $2,000 for an individual or $3,000 for a couple and savings, including retirement savings, of less than $8,000 for an individual or $12,000 for a couple. (Many other assets like a home and a car don't count).

Legal immigrants are also eligible for coverage under any of the other MaineCare groups, e.g. Children, parents, elderly, disabled, persons with HIV or Breast or Cervical Cancer. Read more about these covered groups.

To Apply for MaineCare: MaineCare applications are available at any office of the Maine Department of Human Services or by calling MaineCare Member Services at 1-800-977-6740 If you are deaf or hard of hearing and have a TTY machine, call 1-800-977-6741.

Disclaimer Maine Equal Justice Partners March 2008 We are providing this information as a public service. We try to make it accurate as of the date indicated for each client education page. Sometimes the law changes. We cannot guarantee or promise that this information is always up-to-date and correct. Feel free to contact us to find out if there have been any changes since the date of the information provided. We do not intend this information to be legal advice. We do not intend it as advertising or solicitation. By providing this information, we are not acting as your lawyer. It is best to consult a competent lawyer before taking legal action. Because it is important that information be shared, we encourage reproduction and distribution of our work so long as appropriate acknowledgement is made. Please check with us for updates on information before distributing any dated material.