Pickle Eligibility

Pickle Eligibility for TennCare

Pickle is one of the more complicated ways to get on TennCare.  It is only open to people currently receiving Social Security Retirement or Disability payments who also got SSI at some point in the past.

To be eligible for Pickle, you must have been eligible for SSI and SSDI in the same month at some point in the past.  Many people receive SSI right after they apply for disability and lose it once their disability payments start.  You can find out if you every got SSI and SSDI in the same month by calling Social Security.

If you were eligible for both in the same month, you must then disregard all Cost of Living (COLA) increases that you’ve received since then.  If your newly countable income is less than the current SSI cutoff, you will be eligible for Pickle.

The math can get a little tricky, and the COLA adjustments change every year.  For a complete guide with our most up-to-date COLA numbers, please download this PDF flyer.