

			Get Latest WorkWORLD

	www.workworld.org	workworld@vcu.edu

Veterans Affairs (VA) Benefits - Geographic Means Test Thresholds (GMT)

Public Law 107-135, the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Programs Enhancement Act of 2001, directed the Veterans Administration (VA) to implement a Geographic-based Means Test (GMT) to help determine VA health care eligibility.. This means that a veteran's income from the previous year is compared with the appropriate GMT threshold for the previous fiscal year to determine if the veteran should be placed in treatment priority category 7.

VA uses the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) "low-income" geographic-based income limits as the thresholds for VA's GMT. These "low income" limits represent 80% of median income.

Note that the GMT thresholds are also used in conjunction with another set of thresholds, the Financial Means Test Thresholds, to help determine copayment requirements.

GMT Threshold Amounts

GMT threshold amounts are found in an extremely large table that is ordered by county (or MSA) within each state, listed alphabetically. To use the table, scroll down to your state (in the State Alpha column that has state abbreviations). Then find your county in the County Name column within your state. Finally, on that line, find the correct amount based on the number of your dependents, shown in the column headers.

The actual GMT Threshold table is available in PDF format (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) online from a link at:
http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/Library/pubs/GMTIncomeThresholds/

Definitions

(1) "Below the means test threshold." "Below the means test threshold" is defined as those veterans whose attributable income and net worth are such that they are unable to defray the expenses of care; therefore, they are not subject to co-payment charges for hospital and outpatient medical services. Within the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) system such veterans are designated as "Means Test Copay Exempt."

(2) "Above the means test and GMT threshold." "Above the means test and GMT threshold" is defined as those veterans whose attributable income and net worth are such that they are able to defray the expenses of care; therefore they must agree to pay a co-payment for hospital care and outpatient medical services. Within the VistA system these veterans are designated as "Means Test Copay Required."

(3) "Above the means test and below the GMT threshold." "Above the means test and below the GMT threshold," is defined as those veterans whose attributable income and net worth are such that they are able to defray the expense of care, but whose inpatient medical care co-payments are reduced 80 percent. Within the VistA system these veterans are identified as "GMT Copay Required."

Source

Some information for this topic was drawn from:
http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/Library/pubs/VAIncomeThresholds

http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=1207

WorkWORLD™ Help/Information System

Share/Save: Click the button or link at left to select your favorite bookmark service and add this page.

This is one topic from the thousands available in the WorkWORLD™ software Help/Information System.
Complete information about the software is available at: http://www.WorkWORLD.org

See How to Get WorkWORLD page at: http://www.WorkWORLD.org/howtogetWW.html

NOTE: Sponsored links and commercial advertisements help make the WorkWORLD™ website possible by partially defraying its operating and maintenance expenses. No endorsement of these or any related commercial products or services is intended or implied by the Employment Support Institute or any of its partners. ESI and its partners take no responsibility for, and exercise no control over, any of these advertisements or their views or contents, and do not vouch for the accuracy of the information contained in them. Readers are cautioned to verify all information obtained from these advertisements prior to taking any actions based upon them. The installed WorkWORLD software does not contain advertisements of any kind.