State Medicaid offices target dead people's homes to recoup their health care costs

[Marthe48]

56. Years ago, I read about a Medicaid recovery case in WV

It was probably 20+ years ago, and the article said it was part of Medicaid conditions, but hadn't been used often up until then. The WV case was one of the first, iirc.

I felt bad for the people who it affected, and who like me, had no idea what was in the fine print. My relatives who needed Medicaid either had no assets, or used their asset to pay for their care, and then were declared indigent and applied for Medicaid. I found out after I read the article that if the person had divested themselves of assets 5 years or more before they started using Medicaid, they'd be exempt from recovery. Later, that time period was changed to 10 years. My Mom had no assets in her name. She lived in Colorado and inherited my brother's cabin simply because she'd lived with him long enough to get it because he died intestate. She in turn, gifted it to her grandkids, but she was allowed to live there until she died. My husband and I managed her finances and the kids got the cabin. My husband's uncle used all of his savings, and then went on Medicaid, so he didn't have any debts to Medicaid after he died. My mother-in-law had the same situation, used up her assets, then went on Medicaid, with no debts to pay back after she died.

My husband had good insurance, and Medicare. He was treated for cancer for 10 months-big fail. At the last, the hospital recommended hospice care, which we used for less than 10 days. When he died, I gave all of the medical equipment and supplies to the agency that supplied hospice care, and donated the feeding supplies to the hospital. We didn't get bills from the hospital or hospice because of the insurance and Medicare. But my husband was involved in a class action asbestos lawsuit, and the CMS has sent me regular letters for the last 6 years that if there is any payout from the lawsuit, I will have to pay $2500.00+/- for that last 10 days. I don't have to pay out of pocket, just if any money comes from a settlement. I thought settlements related to health issues were exempt, but who knows, maybe that's changed, too. Besides that, I've always thought it was bs, because his insurance was supposed to cover it. Our lawyer worked with the lawsuit lawyers and established a fund overseen by the local court. None of the individual lawsuits were settled in the years after my husband's death. The estate fund expired last year, and I stopped getting letters from CMS for awhile. Right after it expired, I got a settlement check, which I put in its own account at the bank, and if I hear any more from the lawyers about paying CMS, it'll come out of that. I looked for information about CMS claims having a statute of limitations, but not sure if I found anything that eases my mind.

I know way more than I want to about the fine print :/