You try to do the right thing. Take care of an elderly parent. You supplement their income, make sure their needs are met, and put your life on hold to provide elderly care. You try to keep them in their homes and not commit them to a nursing home.Then when they pass away the state comes in to take the only thing they ever owned of value and worked a life time to acquire, THE FAMILY HOME. My mother passed away and now my heart is broken all over again.
States may file post-death liens or claims against the real and personal property of persons who were permanently institutionalized and those who received Medicaid services through a federally required program called MERP. Medicaid is a joint state and federal program that is needs based and after the person who used the program dies and there is an estate, then the state has the option to recoup or recover some of the costs through MERP.
Post-death liens or claims are often and usually a part of the probate process.
The laws of some states (e.g., California, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin) specify Medicaid as a creditor and establish its standing relative to other claims against the estate, while other states regard Medicaid as a creditor under provisions for “reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses for the last illness of the decedent.” Some state laws (e.g., those of Florida and Texas) protect the decedent’s home by placing certain interests of survivors ahead of the claims of others, including Medicaid. For Texas, MERP is a class 7 claim – which means there are 6 other categories that get paid first when probate is being settled. Because of this, MERP is low in TX.
How MERP gets done and what you can do, depends on the state. All states have MERP exemptions. Many, many people qualify for the exemptions BUT you have to let MERP know within a very specific time-frame that you will file for an exemption. If you don't, you are probably out-of-luck. Each state has the rules or regulations on their website - the feds require that they do. But you have to be proactive to protect your interest and file the needed paperwork.
Medicaid estate recovery gets to the heart of the issue of who should pay for long-term care -- the public through the tax-supported Medicaid program, or users of long-term care through their personal resources, including those remaining after death. Amounts collected from Medicaid recipients' estates are not insignificant in absolute terms. They do, however, pale next to total Medicaid spending for long-term care. This is not surprising, given that Medicaid is available only to those with very limited resources. Nevertheless, the wide state-to-state variation in recovery rates and estate recovery practices suggests that program efficiency could be improved and greater amounts could be recovered. A lot of states are doing this by giving the MERP contract to HMS - which does compliance and duplication for CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services). I would think that HMS is going to be rather aggressive in MERP as they are an outside contractor.
I've read that the laws vary from state to state and legal assistance may be required to keep Medicaid from taking the home.
So, yes, it is entirely possible for the state to take the proceeds of a home sale (up to the amount the state paid) after the Medicaid recipient dies, even without an NH stay. Different states pursue this at different levels of aggressiveness, but it is an opton for all states.
I am very sorry for your heartbreak,mspine57.