Medical subsidy

§ 454. Medical subsidy. 1. A social services official shall make payments for the cost of care, services and supplies payable under the state's program of medical assistance for needy persons, provided to a handicapped child whom he or a voluntary authorized agency has placed out for adoption or who has been adopted. Such payments shall not be restricted to care, services and supplies required for the treatment of the specific condition or disability for which a child was determined to be a handicapped child. For the purposes of this section, a handicapped child shall include, but not be limited to, a child with special needs where a social services official has determined the child cannot be placed with an adoptive parent or parents without medical subsidy because such child has special needs for medical, mental health or rehabilitative care. Such payments also shall be made with respect to a hard to place child who has been placed out for adoption with a person or persons who is or are sixty-two years old or over or who will be subject to mandatory retirement from his or their present employment within five years from the date of the adoption placement.

2. Payments pursuant to subdivision one of this section shall be made to or on behalf of the person or persons with whom the child has been placed or who have adopted the child and shall be made without regard to the financial need of such person or persons.

3. Payments pursuant to subdivision one of this section shall be made only with respect to the cost of care, services and supplies which are not otherwise covered or subject to payment or reimbursement by insurance, medical assistance or other sources.

4. An application for payment under this section shall be made prior to the child's adoption; provided, however, that an application may be made subsequent to a handicapped child's adoption if the adoptive parents first become aware of the child's physical or emotional condition or disability subsequent to the adoption and a physician certifies that the condition or disability existed prior to the child's adoption. An approval of an application for payments under this section shall not be subject to annual review by the social services official, and such approval shall remain in effect until the child's twenty-first birthday. Applications for such subsidies shall be accepted prior to the commitment of the guardianship and custody of the child to an authorized agency pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, and approval thereof may be granted contingent upon such commitment.

5. Upon the death of persons who have adopted the child prior to the twenty-first birthday of the child, payments pursuant to subdivision one of this section shall continue to the legal guardian of the child until the child shall attain the age of twenty-one.