Medicaid Recovery Could Take Your Home

HomePhoto byPhil HearingonUnsplash

If you were over 55 and received medicaid to help pay for long term care or nursing home care, your estate when you die may owe that money back to Medicaid. Most people are unaware of the requirement, and Medicaid does not usually warn patients when they begin receiving the benefit.

While your home is typically exempt from qualifying for Medicaid, Federal law requires each state to try to recover money spent by a lien against the estate when you pass away.

Recently Democrat Jan Schakowsky introduced a bill to do away with the recovery process.

Since 2021, this mandate has stripped 17,000 families in Illinois of their homes. This practice is a well-kept secret with devastating and shocking consequences,” said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.

Children who inherit the estate may face sale of the property to pay for the Medicaid recovery. Called the Stop Unfair Medicaid Recoveries Act of 2024 the bill would ban states from going after the families of the deceased to recover money, which the states are required to do even if they do not want to.