In general, Medicaid rules impose periods of Medicaid ineligibility (“penalty periods”) when a Medicaid applicant makes gifts of assets in an attempt to qualify for Medicaid. If a Medicaid applicant gifts assets within the 60-month “look-back” period, the applicant may be subject to a Medicaid penalty period, based on the value of the gift. Notably,.. read more →

Medicaid, unlike Medicare, is a public benefit program based upon financial need. As a result, you are eligible for Medicaid only if you are over age 65, blind or disabled, and have few assets. If an applicant is married, all assets in the sole name of the husband, in the sole name of the wife, and.. read more →

Federal court rules that federal law does not require a State to disregard a transfer of a life estates by a Medicaid applicant to a disabled veteran.   Pike ex rel. Estate of Pike v. Sebelius (D. R.I., No. CA 13-392 S, July 16, 2015). The late mother of plaintiff F. Norris Pike transferred of two life.. read more →

In an Initial Decision of the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law, Administrative Law Judge Laura Sanders held that transfers by a Medicaid applicant to her adult disabled children were exempt transfers that did not subject the Medicaid applicant to a penalty period. M.K. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services and Somerset County Board.. read more →

A Medicaid applicant who made payments to her daughter for more than four years and claimed those payments were made to cover the cost of monthly payments for her mentally ill daughter’s rent could not prove the payments were made for a purpose other than to qualify for Medicaid because she did not prove that.. read more →