ForwardHealth Community Partners

Updates for local agencies, community-based organizations, and providers who provide assistance to members of Wisconsin's health and nutrition public assistance programs.

Counting Pandemic-Related Compensation for Health Care and FoodShare

The American Rescue Plan Act has extended many unemployment compensation and other payments during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Some of these payments impact eligibility for programs such as BadgerCare Plus and FoodShare.

The following information describes how current payments (issued right away for the current week) and retroactive payments (issued for past weeks) are counted.

Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC)

FPUC provides an additional $300 per week for individuals who receive unemployment benefits. These payments will be issued in 2021 through the unemployment benefit week ending September 4, 2021. Note: 2021 FPUC payments are less than the 2020 FPUC payments. The 2020 FPUC payments provided an additional $600 per week.

In some cases, FPUC payments are counted differently for different programs based on whether they were issued for weeks in 2020 or 2021.

*In 2020, retroactive FPUC payments were not counted as an asset for EBD Medicaid.

**In 2020, current FPUC payments were counted as income for FoodShare.

***In 2020, retroactive FPUC payments were not counted as income for Caretaker Supplement.

Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)

PEUC provides additional weeks of unemployment benefits to individuals who have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits. These payments were authorized to be issued for benefit weeks in 2020 and 2021. Including unemployment benefit weeks in 2020 for which PEUC was authorized, PEUC provides up to a total of 53 additional weeks of unemployment benefits. These payments will be issued through the unemployment benefit week ending September 4, 2021.

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)

PUA provides unemployment benefits to individuals who are not eligible for regular unemployment benefits and who are unable to work as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency. These payments were authorized to be issued for benefit weeks in 2020 and 2021. Including the unemployment benefit weeks in 2020 for which PUA was authorized, PUA provides up to a total of 79 weeks of unemployment benefits. These payments will be issued through the unemployment benefit week ending September 4, 2021.

Economic Impact Payments

Economic Impact Payments, also known as “stimulus payments,” provide eligible individuals with one-time payments. The most recent stimulus payment was up to $1,400 for individuals or $2,800 for married couples, plus $1,400 for each dependent.

Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC)

MEUC provides an additional $100 per week to individuals who are receiving regular unemployment benefits, and who earned at least $5,000 in net self-employment earnings in the tax year before the initial claim for unemployment benefits. MEUC payments will begin being issued in late May. These payments will be issued for unemployment benefit weeks between January 2 and September 4, 2021.

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