coronavirus relief payments

Dear Liz: I have a question about a recent answer you gave. The question was whether stimulus payments count as income for people who get Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income. Your — correct — answer was that they don’t, of course, but you seemed to gloss over the fact that even though this payment was not “income,” it would still count as an asset in the recipient’s bank account. The recipient’s assets are limited to $2,000 by the Medicaid program.

Answer: The relief payments do not count as income or as an asset. The money is excluded from the recipient’s resources for 12 months.