Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

KyaDash OP t1_j7crylq wrote

Reply to comment by ohtheinsandy in Potentially Becoming Caregiver: Losing the House via Medicare/Medicaid Asset Recovery upon Death by KyaDash

Thank you, a lot of this has been very informative.

And to respond to some of the points: He is and has been on medicaid (and medicare) for a sizable amount of time, it's just now that we're exploring care management sorts of things.

I have certainly lived with him for the quoted period (several times over); I put off/abandoned plans to move out to go to school...10 years ago now for medical/mental well being reasons for my mother (primarily the latter) and never managed to "leave escape the nest" as it were. Not even taking into account cases where he had come down with flu/pneumonia or otherwise, I've been practically speaking a full time caretaker for him since covid hit, triply so since my mother passed in Dec 2020, honestly to what is very likely an unhealthy degree. House duties, cooking, grocery shopping, medical appointment attendance as well as scheduling/handling most affairs in that sort of realm.

Asset wise, sans the house, which to be frank isn't even in the best shape itself, and the quite dubious condition vehicle I/He inherited when my mother passed, there's not much of anything; At most a small balance carried month to month after expenses are dealt with from his monthly social security payment.

He seems very suspicious/incredulous that this (the asset recovery thing) is actually a thing due to various friends or acquaintances of his that have done similar things as either the giver or the givee.

4

ohtheinsandy t1_j7cvmyh wrote

Caregiving is no joke. Kudos to you for the years of hard work you’ve put in. I haven’t done it personally but have encountered many caregivers in my line of work. It’s understandable to doubt that estate recovery happens in PA. The state only looks at transfers of assets (like houses) for a period of 5 years prior to applying to Medicaid, so many people avoid the problem entirely by transferring property early. And the enforcement of estate recovery varies. I noticed the state being more aggressive with estate recovery in the past few years though, so I personally wouldn’t take the chance. Another side note - it is way easier for a living person to transfer a house than it is to go through probate after the person passes away to gain ownership. That is why I would work on this ASAP.

6