Medicaid Will Figure it Out

16 Feb 2023 · 1 min

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In this segment, the speaker explains Medicaid’s five‑year look‑back rule that treats any gifts made within five years of needing long‑term‑care benefits as attempts to shield assets. The state will deem such a gift as a penalty, requiring the recipient to “private‑pay” for an equivalent period before qualifying for Medicaid. Using a concrete example, a $16,000 gift is compared to an $8,000‑per‑month nursing‑home cost, meaning the resident must privately cover two months of care before Medicaid eligibility begins. The explanation clarifies how the penalty is calculated and applied, emphasizing that Medicaid does not demand repayment of the gift but instead imposes a waiting period equivalent to the gift’s value.

Chapters

Medicaid sees any type of a gift during the 5 years before long-term care benefits are needed as a way of trying to shift money out of your account so that Medicaid can't get to it. So yes, uh, they are going to see that $16,000 and they are going to penalize the nursing home resident for it. Now they won't come to you and make you give the money back, The way they do it is to say that, you know, $16,000 is about, let's say nursing home is $8,000 a month. That's about 2 months of care. So if this were the only thing, they would say, okay, you private pay for 2 months. That takes care of the $16,000 gift, and then we'll put you on Medicaid benefits.