If any of the following situations applies to you, then you may be eligible to receive benefits under the HICP program:

• You are living with HIV in Georgia and you are having difficulty paying your insurance premiums on your own.
     - OR -
• You are living with HIV in Georgia and you have health insurance coverage through an employer, or through a COBRA policy, but you are about to loose that coverage because of termination.

The State of Georgia supports this particular program because it is much more cost-effective for our state to help patients keep their health insurance coverage.  Patients who lose their health insurance coverage are forced to seek public assistance to pay for expensive emergency room treatments and expensive HIV/AIDS medications.

The Georgia HICP program has strict eligibility requirements of household income and county residence.  In order to enroll in the HICP program, you must meet all of the following criteria:

• You must have a diagnosis of AIDS or be HIV symptomatic.
• You must currently have health insurance under a group, individual or COBRA* policy.
• You must be current on your premium payments.
• You must be ineligible for Medicaid.
• You must have a gross household income equal to or less than 300% of the Federal Poverty level.  This amount varies from one year to another, and is based on the number of people living in your household.  Please note that documentation of total income must be provided on behalf of every wage-earning member in your household.  For example: If you are married and your spouse contributes part of the total household income, then you must provide documentation of your spouse's income in addition to documentation of your own income.
• You must have cash assets equal to or less than $4500 ($5500 if married).**
• You must complete and sign all forms, worksheets and paperwork required by the program and submit all required documentation.
• You must reside in the state of Georgia during the enrollment period and must submit evidence of your residence.
• You must submit an application through a designated enrolling program office.  You are not allowed to submit an application directly to the Department of Human Resources.  If you live in Gwinnett, Rockdale or Newton Counties, AIDGwinnett is automatically assigned as your designated enrolling program office.  Otherwise, if you live outside this area, you should contact your Case Manager to request assistance in applying for the HICP program.  To locate an AIDS service organization serving your local county, please call the Georgia HIV Information Line at 404-870-7775.
• You must complete a recertification form and include documentation of your current household income, assets and residency every six months through your enrolling program office.  This form is essentially a "re-application" form. 
• You must sign a “Release of Information” form.  By signing this form, you are granting permission for AIDGwinnett, the Georgia Department of Human Resources and your health insurance company to communicate with each other in an attempt to pay your insurance premiums.  We do not share your HIV status or any personal, private information with your current, former or future employer(s).

In order to submit an HICP application on your behalf, you will need to provide the following items:

• documentation of Georgia residency
• complete documentation of income for each person in your household
• copy of your insurance card
• copy of invoice from your health insurance company with address for payments and amount of monthly premiums
• copy of your completed tax return for the most recent tax year

*NOTE:  Some patients have a “COBRA” type of health insurance.  If you currently have this type of insurance, it is your responsibility to convert your COBRA-type policy to an independent, individual policy (not a group policy such as with an employer or a large company).  You must do this at least 60 days before your COBRA policy is set to expire.  Normally, COBRA policies will expire 18 months after they begin.  It is your responsibility to determine this exact date of expiration by contacting the Human Resources office of your former employer.

**NOTE:  Cash assets which are counted against your HICP eligibility are defined as any easily accessible or liquid cash such as assets in checking account, savings account, short term CD (3 months or less), non-retirement stock portfolios/ mutual funds, equity in rental/ vacation property.  Assets not counted towards HICP include life insurance policies and retirement/ pension accounts, personal residence, personal transportation.

The Georgia Health Insurance Continuation Program (HICP) is funded by the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) for the purpose of helping patients keep their health insurance coverage.