Ohio Medicaid Estate Recovery
Ohio Medicaid estate recovery is the procedure where the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (JFS) seeks to be reimbursed for all Medicaid benefits paid against the estate of the Medicaid recipient after he or she has died. JFS is the Ohio agency that determines and oversees Medicaid eligibility and benefits.
Timing Of Ohio Medicaid Estate Recovery
JFS will not seek recovery of Medicaid benefits until both the Medicaid recipient and his or her spouse have passed away. After the recipient meets the resource or spend down requirements for Medicaid eligibility, the community spouse can keep the house, a spousal resource allowance and a car. The community spouse gets to keep these things during his or her lifetime. JFS can file a claim against the community spouse’s estate for the amount of benefits conferred.
Will Ohio Medicaid Estate Recovery Apply If The Recipient Has Children?
If the recipient’s children are healthy adults and twenty-one years of age or older, JFS will not be prohibited from seeking Medicaid estate recovery. If the children are under age 21, blind or disabled, JFS will not seek estate recovery.
Can Medicaid File Liens?
JFS can file a lien on a Medicaid recipient’s real estate if the person is an inpatient of a skilled nursing facility or other a medical institution and cannot reasonably be expected to return home. A lien cannot be filed if any of the following individuals are residing in the home: (1) spouse; (2) the recipient’s child who is under age 21, blind or permanently and totally disabled; or (3) the recipient’s brother or sister who has partial ownership in the home and who resided there at least one year before the person’s first admission to the nursing home. If the recipient moves back into the home, the lien must be removed. This also means a home-based care patient, by definition, cannot have a lien placed on his or her home.
Does Ohio Medicaid Estate Recovery Apply To Passport?
JFS can seek estate recovery for benefits conferred to Passport recipients. Such recovery, like other recovery, only occurs after both spouses have passed away.
Can Ohio Medicaid Estate Recovery Be Waived?
JFS will not seek estate recovery if the circumstances would create an undue hardship. An example would be an income-producing piece of real estate, such as a family farm.
Click on any of the following links to read more about Medicaid planning: Long term care insurance’s role in Medicaid planning; Medicaid eligibility for long term care in Ohio; Medicaid guidelines for long term care in 2015.
Attorney Daniel Gigiano. Experienced. Knowledgeable. Dedicated.
Attorney Gigiano was admitted to the practice of law in Illinois in 1993. In 1999, he was admitted to practice in Ohio. In 2000, he took his experience to a private practice in Wadsworth, Medina County, Ohio. Attorney Gigiano has maintained a practice in Wadsworth since that time. Call now at 330-336-3330 if you need the services of a Medina Medicaid planning lawyer in Wadsworth or a Wooster Medicaid planning lawyer near Barberton.
