County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSA MediCal Program Guide SameSex Marriage Number Page 080701 1 of 2 Revision Date October 16 2017 Background On May 15 2008 the California Supreme Court ruled that the right to marry under the California Constitution applies to samesex couples The decision became final and effective at 500 PM on June 16 2008 In November 2008 voters approved Proposition 8 which amended the State Constitution by eliminating the right of samesex individuals to marry in California Proposition 8 became effective November 5 2008 In 2013 the court case initiated by Edith Windsor United States v Windsor resulted in part of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act DOMA to be deemed as unconstitutional Windsor allowed couples who were married in states that recognized samesex marriages to receive certain federal benefits such as Social Security and Medicaid Following this decision the IRS revised the tax code to allow samesex couples to file taxes jointly as married couples thus changing the policy for MediCal evaluation of Modified Adjusted Gross Income MAGI individuals In the 2015 Obergefell decision the US Supreme Court held that samesex marriages are valid regardless of whether state law recognizes them This section is revised to update the requirements for samesex marriages Purpose To provide instructions for the evaluation of samesex married couples in MediCal Policy 1 All MediCal Cases Evaluate samesex spouses as married regardless of where the couple was married If the samesex couple attests under penalty of perjury that they are legally married use that information without requiring any additional verification 2 MAGI Use the tax filing status or anticipated tax filing status of the samesex couple in determining MAGI eligibility as married Do not request documentation of tax filing status unless the attested information is unclear Remember that spouses living together are in the same tax household regardless of tax filing status or if one spouse claims the other as a tax dependent 3 NonMAGI Use the same rules and policies for samesex couples as those for oppositesex couples This includes all spousal impoverishment provisions as well as other policies regarding spouses and longterm care or Home and CommunityBased Services HCBS wavier programs If samesex couples have individual circumstances that require evaluation under undue hardship provisions follow instructions as for oppositesex couples County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSA MediCal Program Guide SameSex Marriage Number Page 080701 2 of 2 4 Effective Date Follow these instructions immediately for all new cases Any case identified at redetermination fair hearing or any time brought to the workers attention review to see if the rules in this section would affect MediCal eligibility as shown below Type Retroactive to NonMAGI June 26 2013 MAGI January 1 2014 C Procedure Follow the rules above when determining the marital status of a couple for MediCal See MPG 86 for information on Registered Domestic Partners RDPs Program Impacts None References ACWDLs 0904 1236 and 1727 Sunset Date This policy will be reviewed for continuance by 10312020 Approval for Release Rick Wanne Director Eligibility Operations