Can someone explain what the 5-year "look back" period for Medicaid is?

K. Gabriel Heiser, thank you for spelling out the $13,000 gift exemption "This figure relates solely to a Federal GIFT TAX exemption and has no relation to Medicaid rules. Anyone concerned with Medicaid coverage will never make anywhere near the $5,120,000 of lifetime gifts permitted before a federal gift tax is due! Thus, for all practical purposes, the $13,000 limit can be ignored for anyone worried about
Medicaid"

Our flat fee for my Mom was 6,300. Be aware though that if you are trying to come up with ways to keep your parent at home and get care via Medicaid (and in some states this is possible) you have to be emphatic because they generally come from the direction of nursing homes and Medicaid nursing homes are generally awful...

Does anyone know about Medicare law in the state of IL.

if the parent is low income you need to get a free agency involved to help keep the care of your elderly safe from being booted out of a nursing home i use an agency called senior alliance and i care for my uncle in my home and his medicare/medicaid they pay for someone to care for him while i am working and i only pay for him to be bathed and he receives better care then he would get in a nursing home he is bedridden and it is hard at times but i feel good that he get to be close to his family in his final years we had hospice come in and they only seen him i time in a week so i fired them and learned to care for him myself

Ohio daughter, look up the law it’s called the clawback rule. It pertains to Medicaid. And a great site that has all the helpful answers is www. Social security works. Com. It can tell you everything. Good luck. Yuki

The proposed Medicaid recipient cannot "own" property to a certain limit. Talk to an estates and trusts attorney. On this forum, you will get even more confused because Medicaid laws may vary by state and gift tax is on the IRS level. Good Luck.

I believe the $13k gift is estate planning, gift tax relating to tax returns. If a person can even file that, I'm pretty sure they do not qualify for Medicaid. 5-year rule pretty self-explanatory. To avoid fraud, assets should not be held by the party for 5 years.

Most people try to avoid Medicaid -- if the person is over 55 years of age there is an "estate recovery law".  Anything that goes through probate--that's how Medicaid can grab it. Read: https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/eligibility/estate-recovery/index.html

Also: https://www.eldercaredirectory.org/medicaid-estate-recovery.htm

 As for repaying gifting prior to the five year look back law, read this. https://www.payingforseniorcare.com/medicaid/look-back-period.html

Medicaid is a government loan and they expect to be paid back one way or another, either from the client at death or they (look back) into relatives for the money. read about it online.

The look back means that Medicaid can "look back" into all records to see if any money was deliberately hidden from Medicaid by selling or gifting money that Medicaid will look at as money that should have been given to them instead. AND there is nothing holding them back from doing a claw back 7 years if they think there is more money.....so plan for 7 years just in case.

This p*sses me off to no end and it's destroyed many families inheritance. 

The five year look back assets theft (theft is what it is in any rational understanding) should be illegal. It's no different than if a bank would say "anything you've sold, gained or earned within 5 years prior to your loan is subject to our ability to come after if you default. Banks are not allowed to do that because it is viewed as theft, banks are forced thru regulation to use current present assets and income as guarantee of loan... meaning, the government is a thief. 

When you look at a persons earned income and the government has already taken large portions of that through social security, taxes, etc for approximately 50 years of any individuals earning life.(meaning the individual has paid thru the nose for any benefits they may receive from Medicaid) .. so, for the government to turn around and demand a persons past 5 year (or any length of time) assets as being theirs to access and use at their discretion (for allowing an individual to take advantage of assistance the individual has already paid for over 50 years), because the government views 5 years prior financial and estate value as theirs to use as payback assets to grab from, that folks is legalized theft. And there is no rationale argument to the opposing that would hold in any honest court of law. The government would be found guilty of theft. 

The government has created itself to be the "God and director" of every individuals financial earning life. The government only views human life as it's ability to be earn-able sources of income, meaning the population is only Valued as dollars.  The government is directing and creating law to control every individuals value of income from birth to death, and have been stealing from every single individuals earned income since that individual has been earning. So after 50 plus years (average)  of stealing from each individuals earned and other income, it now goes further and forces (the 5 year look back) ... the individual now at end earning cycle of life regarding age in years  (usually by age 70 properties are the last value and are beginning to be inherited and passed on thru lineage etc) ... The government now secures itself-to even those assets of the individual by forcing the pay back of the very money the governments already been stealing from the individual it's entire life.. the government is one of the largest most dangerous thiefs ever created. 

Someone asked how much an Elder Law attorney charges. I paid ours $500 to make up all our POA's, Living Wills, Wills, etc. Then when we had to file for Medicaid (in Ohio), we paid him a flat fee to cover the cost. I thought it was quite high, and it pretty much wiped out what little savings I had set aside for emergencies. The cost was $4500.00. Since my husband's pension was too high, Medicaid will be requiring me to pay $2,000. each month toward his long term nursing home costs. That means that I will be living in our home, paying all the same bills, paying for his life insurance policy (for burial), etc. etc. I've had to cancel my weekly chiropractic care, the newspaper, cut cable to the very basics, lower a few other bills. It's been very stressful. In the end, I'm hoping that I'll have enough money to at least eat out once a week. Not sure if I'll be able to afford many other 'luxuries' like hair cuts, pedicures (I'm 76 yrs. old and can't cut my nails any more).....It's going to be interesting but I'm trying to do the best I can. I'm not sure how long it will take to complete the Medicaid journey. As of now, he is considered on "Medicaid Waiting"......and has been able to be transferred from the rehab section of the NH to the long term care unit.

If grandma got house and then gifts, it will cause transfer penalty.
If already done, consult a lawyer. If she received an inheritance she is supposed to use for her care not give away

Can somebody else come and help with this please???!!!

I believe, but I'm not American and don't quote me, that her primary residence is exempt from Medicaid's assessment BUT on your grand*mother*'s passing Medicaid will have a claim on it. If your grandmother is still living there she won't be forced to sell it just because title has passed from your grandfather to her, which I hope will be a relief to her? If she isn't living there then I'm not sure what happens, but I believe Medicaid will put a lien on the property so she mustn't try to sell it and give the money away, for example.

I hope better-informed forum members will be along in a little while to help you! Or, of course, you could always call Medicaid and ask their advice.

The property was in grandfathers name and was willed to grandmother after his passing. Property was only $20,000 worth and was their residence.

Um. I think the question in that case would be how your Medicaid application had succeeded if you were at that time in possession of the property which you later gifted. Was Medicaid aware of your ownership of the property in question at the time of your application? If not, why not? If so, presumably it was excluded from the assessment of your assets for some reason - what was the property, and what was its monetary value?

Does the 5 year look back apply to you if you had already been receiving Medicaid and then Gifted property?

From what I saw on YouTube about Medicaid and the five-year look back, if you give away money or assets to someone and then apply for Medicaid, they will look back five years and find your gift. What I saw in one of the videos was that if you get that money back that you gave away, you can get it back and undo the penalty as long as the money is recoverable. If it's gone, there's not much you can do but wait it out for five years before qualifying for Medicaid. One scary video I saw that I hope doesn't come true if it hasn't already is the waiting period of five years doubling to a ten-year look back, making it much harder to even get Medicaid. 

Anyway, what you can do is try and get that $13,000 back and undo your penalty. If by chance you also have Medicare, you're better off to try and get private long-term insurance. I've been suspecting Medicare is broke or  there wouldn't be other insurance companies to pick up for what they don't cover. Having another insurance company to pick up for what they don't cover makes them look bad in my opinion, and I mean real bad. I don't think Medicare should even exist if they're not going to cover nothing

When you make out your will, it is to be processed with date and info about home passing to heirs. It should state the home becomes property of heirs immediately after death. Five years pass and that is the "look-back" period. Medicaid should not take the home even if owner has been in a nursing home. That is NC state law, if not changed. Check under Medicaid Estate Recovery for your state or ask your lawyer. State of Virginia has been trying to stop this law for years. We should all get behind it. So unfair to people who have worked their entire life to pay for their family home, years of payments, of upkeep, taxes, etc. and hoped to pass it to their heirs. If owner must go to nursing home, then home must be sold to pay back Medicaid what was paid out for care. This is only when the owner must have nursing home care and will not made out five years before death.

HI I DO NOT WANT MEDICAID ANY LONGER WHAT DO I DO TO GET OFF OF IT BESIDES CALL THEM AND TELL THEM I DO NOT NEED IT ANY LONGER?

I dont know about the apartmrnt, but my dad lives with our family amd weve made some changes to accomodate his needs. Before visiting this site i never though about his spending being considered any type of gift. I mean, if he cant climb steps he has to have a shower on the main floor, so he paid to divide a closet into a smaller closet and a shower for him. Actually could be seen as either lowering our home value, and raising our taxes, we feel it is a wash, no benefit to us.

My 94 yr mother is currently living in assisted living and is very unhappy. For her age, she still is fairly independent. My husband and I are considering using some of her money to build her a little apartment on our property where we can take care of her and hire someone to check on her. My question is if years down the road she requires a nursing home, will Medicaid expect her to pay for the money that was spent for her apartment.

I'm curious about liens on these properties. My sister-in-law owns a mobile home, but she owes more or close to what it is worth. She also rents the lot it is located on. Value of less than $5000. She already has Medicaid, so when she goes to NH, as POA, can I legally sell the property to pay off her debts??

Yes giving $3000 is considered gifting under Medicaid lookback and would be subject to transfer penalty if it happened within past 5 years.

If my mother gave 3000.00 as a present to grandson and son and daughter , is this considered a transfer or gifting to the Medicaid eligibility.

If my mom gave us 3,000.00 for presents is this considered a transfer?

My parents transferred their house into a revocable trust on January 18, 2012. My mother is now ill and might have to go to a nursing home. Will the 5 year look back apply to this trust? What happens to the house on January 19, 2017? Thanks for any answers.

mom has been in assisted living status for 7 years, how far does the look back go for gifting in Ct. ? How much can she gift her children a year or total for legal purposes, can she buy them a vacation if she wishes and what if her and child have joint account and child is power of attorney . thanks

if you have a life estate and your parent enters a nursing home but is not on Medicaid, can the home take this land and home

If i am on medicare and medicaid .Medicaid pays the 20% that medicare doesn't pay and I have a house .I may be going to sell this house while still on medicare and Medicaid will I have to pay back any money from profits that i make on my house that medicaid has helped me with.?