Blog by Attorney Megan D. Strait
The median annual cost for a private room in a nursing home in Pennsylvania is $116,800. With costs so high, people who are in need of nursing care often find that they are depleting their assets to not only cover the cost of their stay, but also to become Medicaid eligible so that the cost of their stay may continue to be covered. While there may be ways to preserve assets and still become eligible for Medicaid, those assets that were once preserved could later be subject to what is known as the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program.
When a person qualifies and receives Medicaid benefits, the Medicaid program keeps track of every dollar it pays on behalf of that individual. Upon the death of that individual, Pennsylvania will attempt to recoup every penny paid on that individual’s behalf from whatever may be left in that individual’s estate. This is a process known as estate recovery, and it can strip an estate of all of its assets, leaving that individual’s heirs with nothing.
People believe that if they have a will in place, then the state cannot come and take their property, and while that might be true to some extent, a will won’t prevent the state from taking assets through the estate recovery program. The recovery program applies to the entire estate of any individual who received Medicaid benefits. This means that the state has the right to collect all real and personal property from that individual’s estate regardless of whether they had a will or not.
Fortunately, important strategic steps can be taken to shield these assets from slipping through an individual’s hands and into the government’s. Common strategies can include retitling property and setting up trusts, just to name a few. Because there are numerous strategies available, the approach that may be taken for one individual could vary from another individual’s approach; however, the goal remains the same, and that is to protect the individual’s assets.
Wherever you may be in life, it is important that you either begin or continue in your planning process. The attorneys at Walters & Galloway are here to help craft a prudent and secure plan to shield your assets from potentially being subject to the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program.
