If a person over age 55 receives long-term care from Medicaid the state may make a claim against their estate. The Medicaid reimbursement claim may seem like a pointless thing. After all, in order to qualify for Medicaid benefits the patient must be impoverished. So why would they have a probate estate anyway? A Medicaid…
APRIL 10, 2006 VOLUME 13, NUMBER 41 As many states have become more aggressive about recovering the costs of Medicaid care from the estates of deceased beneficiaries, one issue has appeared to be insoluble. Federal law permits states to make a claim against property held in joint tenancy at the time of a Medicaid recipient’s…
JANUARY 27, 2003 VOLUME 10, NUMBER 30 In our American system of government the legislature is in charge of making law and policy, and the administrative branch’s job is to interpret and implement those laws without imposing the bureaucrats’ own ideas on the legislature’s programs. That ideal conception, however, runs afoul of the reality of…
JANUARY 6, 2003 VOLUME 10, NUMBER 27 Beginning in the mid-1990s many states filed litigation against major tobacco companies (or joined existing litigation) seeking reimbursement for the some of the costs of treating smokers. After those lawsuits resulted in recovery of $1.3 billion for the states, a number of smokers (and the families of deceased…
MAY 7, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 45 Last week Elder Law Issues reported on Arizona’s new “Beneficiary Deed” statute. A law passed by the Arizona legislature this year creates a new, simpler way to pass title to real property, without any requirement of probate and avoiding the cost of establishing a living trust. A number…
JANUARY 4, 1999 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 27 About half the cost of all nursing home care in this country is paid by the federal-state Medicaid program. The program is available to individuals who have reduced their assets below $2,000 (not counting homes, autos and a handful of other exempt assets). When the nursing home resident…