Healthcare and Family Services Medical Benefits

Are you a senior or person with a disability who needs healthcare? If you are, then Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) Medical Benefits may be a program for you. This program is sometimes called Aid to the Aged, Blind, or Disabled (AABD) medical benefits.

HFS Medical Benefits is a comprehensive healthcare program that covers doctor visits, prescription drugs, hospital care, emergency room coverage, long term care, durable medical equipment and a variety of other healthcare services.

• You are age 65 or older, or blind or have a permanent disability, and

• You live in Illinois, and

• Your income and assets are below the program’s income and asset limits, and

• You are a U.S. citizen or you are an eligible qualified immigrant

To apply, you can download an application for medical benefits and send it to an Illinois Department of Human Services Family Community Resource Center (FCRC) or visit the office directly. You can also apply online for SNAP (food stamps), Medical and Cash Benefits through Illinois Web Benefits.

You can find your local Family Community Resource Center (FCRC), or call the DHS Help Line at 1-800-842-1461 (TTY: 1-800-447-6404) the call is free.

You may qualify if your monthly income for your family is equal to or less than the amounts in the table below for your family size. Count yourself, your spouse and your minor children to find your family size:

For each additional person add $335.

If you are single, you may qualify if your countable assets are $2,000 or less. If you are married, your assets combined with your spouse’s assets must be equal to or less than $3,000.

The items listed below are exempt. That means we do not count them when deciding the value of your assets.

1. Your home

2. Your personal belongings and household goods of reasonable value

3. Certain resources that you use to earn income.

4. One automobile regardless of value if someone in your family needs it to get to work or uses it to get regular medical treatment, it is modified for transportation of a person with a handicap, or it is needed to provide transportation for essential daily activities because of remoteness or similar factors.

5. Life insurance policies with a total face value of $1,500 or less and all term life insurance policies

6. Certain funds set aside for burial expenses

7. Certain other assets that occur infrequently

People who are not U.S. citizens but who fit into one of the following groups are qualified immigrants and may qualify for HFS medical benefits as soon as they enter the U.S.

1. A U.S. veteran honorably discharged or a person on active duty and the spouse and unmarried children of such a person

2. Refugees

3. Asylees

4. Persons for whom deportation has been withheld

5. Persons granted conditional entry to the U.S.

6. Nationals of Cuba or Haiti

7. Victims of human trafficking

8. Amerasians from Vietnam

9. Certain members of Hmong or Highland Laotian tribes

10. American Indians born in Canada

11. Certain victims of domestic violence

12. Certain Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrants

Adults within the following groups of qualified immigrants may receive HFS Medical Benefits after they have resided in the U.S. legally for five years. The 5-year bar does not apply to children.

1. Persons lawfully admitted for permanent residence under the Immigration and Naturalization Act

2. Aliens granted parole for at least one year

The Medical Assistance for Asylum Applicants and Torture Victims program provides up to 24 months coverage for persons who are not qualified immigrants but who are applicants for asylum in the U.S. or who are non-citizen victims of torture receiving treatment at a federal funded torture treatment center.