The United States Department of Agriculture, which administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), issued a memo to state agencies on December 5, 2024 instructing that “state agencies must exclude all Medicare Advantage (MA) supplemental benefits when determining income for SNAP purposes.”

The memo notes that these benefits “have a nexus to the health of the enrollee.” In addition, the memo underscores the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) role in approving these benefits based upon their ability to address health-related issues or an individual’s overall function. LeadingAge over the past 12 months has been advocating for the administration to clarify treatment of Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits for the purposes of determining individual income and asset eligibility for government
programs, including SNAP, Medicaid, and Supplemental Security (SSI) benefits as well as federal housing subsidies.

We are hopeful that this USDA position will encourage CMS and the Housing Urban Development (HUD) agencies to follow suit with similar guidance.