What is ALTCS (pronounced “all tex”)?
ALTCS is an acronym that stands for Arizona Long Term Care System.
It is a division of AHCCCS (pronounced “access”). AHCCCS stands for Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and is also referred to as Arizona’s Medicaid program.
The ALTCS program helps pay for long term care and acute care expenses for the elderly, physically disabled, blind, and developmentally disabled.
In order to qualify for this program an applicant must apply, meet non-financial, medical, and financial guidelines, and enroll with a program contractor (ALTCS’ name for health plan).
The application process takes 45 days.
Non-financial guidelines include:
- Assigning rights to other health insurance to AHCCCS
- Linkage to the program through age or disability
- Living in ALTCS-approvable setting
- Applying for all potential benefits
- Verifiable Social Security number
- US Citizen or Qualified Alien
- Verification of marital status
- Arizona residency
- Identity verified
Medical guidelines include:
- Requires regular medical monitoring
- May have Alzheimer’s Disease or dementia
- Has accidents or no control of bowels/bladder
- At risk of needing skilled nursing care full-time
- Has impaired self-care with activities of daily living
- Requires nursing care or is under the supervision of a nurse
- May have difficulty in social situations or difficulty communicating needs
2016 Financial guidelines include:
- Income at or below $2,199.00 per month (single person) or $4,398.00 (couple)
- Assets (referred to as resources) at or below $2,000.00 (s) or $25,844.00* (c)
- No transfers of assets or income without compensation
