Cite as: 534 U. S. 473 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
I
A
The federal Medicaid program provides funding to States that reimburse needy persons for the cost of medical care. See Social Security Act, tit. XIX, as added, 79 Stat. 343, and as amended, 42 U. S. C. § 1396 et seq. (1994 ed. and Supp. V). "Each participating State develops a plan containing reasonable standards . . . for determining eligibility for and the extent of medical assistance" within boundaries set by the Medicaid statute and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Schweiker v. Gray Panthers, 453 U. S. 34, 36-37 (1981) (internal quotation marks omitted); § 1396a(a)(17) (1994 ed.).1 In formulating those standards, States must "provide for taking into account only such income and resources as are, as determined in accordance with standards prescribed by the Secretary, available to the applicant." § 1396a(a)(17)(B) (emphasis added).
Because spouses typically possess assets and income jointly and bear financial responsibility for each other, Medicaid eligibility determinations for married applicants have resisted simple solutions. See, e. g., id., at 44-48. Until 1989, the year the MCCA took effect, States generally considered the income of either spouse to be "available" to the other. We upheld this approach in Gray Panthers, observing that "from the beginning of the Medicaid program, Congress authorized States to presume spousal support." Id., at 44; see id., at 45 (quoting passage from S. Rep. No. 404, 89th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 1, p. 78 (1965), including statement that "it is proper to expect spouses to support each other").
1 The Secretary has delegated his rulemaking power to the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), see Statement of Organization, Functions, and Delegations of Authority for the Dept. of Health and Human Services, Pt. F, 46 Fed. Reg. 13262-13263 (1981), now called the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, see 66 Fed. Reg. 35437 (2001). We nevertheless refer throughout this opinion to the Secretary as the entity charged with interpretive authority.
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