Jake Dressler on LinkedIn: Can Medicaid Take My House When I Die?
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When the state sought federal approval for the latest round of the program, it said participation would be capped at just under 9,000 people at a time for two years, with annual increases in the following three years to reach roughly 12,300. Advocates believe even more people are probably in need of the program but have been unaware of its existence or discouraged from trying to apply. The HCBA waiting list was long for so many years that “people stopped considering it a viable option,” said Elizabeth Zirker, senior counsel with Disability Rights California. The state said it was planning to ask the federal government for more slots that would become available in January, though it was still determining how many. Across the U.S., over 3 million had lost Medicaid coverage as of Wednesday.
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She's held board certifications in emergency nursing and infusion nursing. If a state does not use Medicaid managed care, they are not allowed to recoup more than the actual amount the state spent on the person's care. It also cannot recover it if the house is in your spouse’s name and you have relinquished your interest. If the house is in an irrevocable trust, the state cannot recover from it, either. Get a solid grounding in Social Security, including who is eligible, how to apply, spousal benefits, the taxation of benefits, how work affects payments, and SSDI and SSI.
Eligibility in
Losing a home after passing away is covered in a separate article here. Since state laws vary, the only way to know for sure if your estate is at risk is to educate yourself about the specifics of your state’s MERP. Although your state Medicaid office can tell you the basics, you may find it helpful to consult a professional specializing in elder law or estate planning. So a much larger population of people 55 and over are now eligible for Medicaid.
Can Medicare or Medicaid Take Your House?
Lack of access to the program can have reverberating impacts for families. In Baldwin Park, it is costing the family of 2-year-old Gideon Chavez in multiple ways. The California Department of Health Care Services told local agencies in July that it was no longer accepting new applications because the program was hitting its annual cap on participants. “It was kind of a shock,” said Pauline Shatara, deputy director of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. Delays in transfers can put people at higher risk of complications and derail day-to-day life for patients. It isn't, although at this point the possibility of the government snatching your house out from under your heirs is more theoretical than real and should not stop you from enrolling in Medicaid if your income qualifies you for it.
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Musgrave, who works for the state’s handgun-permit office, makes $31,000 before taxes. “There’s no way I would even qualify for a loan to get another home,” she said. She looked into public housing, but there are 10,000 people on the wait list and it’s currently closed. I initially learned about estate recovery because it’s going to happen to my own family.
After their death, Medicaid will attempt reimbursement of long-term care costs via Medicaid Estate Recovery if they do not have a disabled, blind, or minor child. Another exception in which Estate Recovery cannot take place is the Child Caretaker Exemption. It allows a Medicaid recipient to transfer their home to a healthy adult child under certain circumstances.
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After the passing of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, MERPs became mandatory. Estate recovery is also mandatory after the death of Medicaid recipients under 55 if they received nursing home care. Every state and the District of Columbia have Medicaid Estate Recovery Programs (MERPs). Simply put, a MERP tries to recoup the long-term care costs the state paid for following the death of a Medicaid recipient aged 55 years or older. A state-imposed, post-death lien on a houseoccupied by the loved ones of a deceased recipient of Medicaid will getmoney back to the government, but not while a spouse ordependent/disabled child is still living—anywhere. Your home isalso shielded from recovery if a spouse or sibling has an equity interest init, and has lived in it for the legally specified time, or if it’s the home ofa child who is under 21 or lives with a disability.
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In 1979, Joseph and Edna bought a house in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood for $24,000. The Look-Back Period in most states is 60 months (5 years), which means the state will look back into the applicant’s financial records for the 60 months prior to application. In California, there is no Look-Back Period for Nursing Home Medicaid and it’s 30 months for HCBS Waivers. In New York, the Look-Back Period is the standard 60 months for Nursing Home Medicaid, but there is no Look-Back Period for HCBS Waivers (called Community Medicaid in New York), although that may change in 2025. There are additional protections that apply to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
But in 2015, when Mfalme was diagnosed with breast cancer and needed a double mastectomy, she started looking at other options. She hosted a meeting in her mother’s home with the local Medicaid office. The representative told her to drain her mother’s bank accounts – money Mfalme poured into assisted living facility payments for her mom – so her mother would qualify for the program.
This is generally one year following the death of a Medicaid recipient. When someone receives long-term care benefits and more through Medicaid, the state can actually seek repayment for these services after the Medicaid recipient passes away. This is called Medicaid estate recovery (MERP), and each state has its own rules about how it works, just like they all have their own Medicaid programs. To recover the costs, the state will make a claim against the deceased’s estate and the assets and property in it. The basic rule is that a person's primary residence is an exempt asset and therefore will not be counted when they apply for Medicaid. However, when a senior specifically applies for Medicaid coverage of long-term care services, including nursing home care, their equity interest in their home must fall below a certain amount set by their state to be considered exempt.
This is also frequently a concern of adult children whose mother, father, or both parents need Medicaid-funded nursing facility care. Can Medicaid take the home when the elderly individual moves to a nursing home? Unfortunately, these are complicated questions and the answers depend on a family’s specific situation.
You may also get a Sibling Exemption that allows you to transfer your house to a sibling who is part owner of the house, provided they lived there for at least a year before you went to a Medicaid-funded nursing home. Both must be done correctly, otherwise you risk violating the "Look-Back Period". It is common for people applying for nursing home care or similar assistance to worry about what might happen with their home.
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