One of the questions we hear most concerning Medi-Cal is, “Will I lose my house?” And, there is  reason to be concerned. 

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When you are on Medi-Cal and in a skilled nursing facility, the State of California makes payments up to $6,000 per month to pay for your nursing home care. California eventually wants to be paid back for their contribution, including whatever Medi-Cal paid toward hospital and doctor bills. It does not take very many months of nursing home care before you have accumulated a significant recovery bill.  The State will make a claim.

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You may think to yourself, “But, I thought my house was exempt.”  It is exempt for Medi-Cal approval, but the State has a right to make a claim against whatever you own at the time of your death, including your home.  It is very common for a lien to be placed against your home, so when it is eventually sold, the State of California and its estate recovery claim can be made whole.

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The question is, “Can the estate recovery claim be prevented?”  The answer is, “Absolutely yes!”  With proper Medi-Cal planning the estate recovery can be avoided.  We have had numerous people who have already been approved for Medi-Cal who then enlist our services just to avoid losing their home or IRA to large estate recovery claims. 

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With proper planning, there is no reason to lose assets to the state that you intended to go to your family. There are numerous strategies and estate waivers which can be used to prevent paying anything back.  At Packard Senior Services, our goal is to achieve Medi-Cal approval and preserve all the assets, including estate recovery.