US Medicaid offices sue for dead people’s homes to cover health care costs without warning, critics say
People claim they were unaware of Medicaid’s estate recovery process until after their loves ones passed away
Rather, it was part of a routine process the federal government requires of every state: to recover money from the assets of dead people who, in their final years, relied on Medicaid, the taxpayer-funded health insurance for the poorest Americans.
A person’s home is typically exempt from qualifying for Medicaid. But it is subject to the estate recovery process for those who were over 55 and used Medicaid to pay for long-term care such as nursing home stays or in-home health care.