Can states align household composition rules?
Yes and no. States have full flexibility to establish rules relating to whose income and resources to consider when determining eligibility for TANF, child care, and SCHIP, but there are federal rules governing these policies in the Medicaid and food stamp programs. Without waivers of certain federal rules, the household composition rules in Medicaid and the Food Stamp Program differ and as is discussed below, efforts to align the rules in these programs (through existing waiver authority or other means) would lead either to very large benefit cuts or very large increases in program costs. States have broad flexibility in this area in SCHIP, TANF, and child care, but state policy choices have meant that the rules in these programs tend to differ in important ways from those in food stamps and, to a far lesser degree, Medicaid. The Food Stamp and Medicaid programs have federally prescribed rules about which individuals living together are part of the assistance unit and, therefore, rece
