Question:

I am on Medicare and Medicaid for my health insurance. I would like to sell my home in New York and buy another in a different state. Will I have to reimburse Medicaid for the medical help when the house sells?

Response:

It sounds like you’re not in a nursing home, so the answer is no. You can sell your home without reimbursing New York for its Medicaid expenditures and use the proceeds to purchase a new home in another state.

State Medicaid programs have three ways to recover their expenditures. First, they may make a claim against the beneficiary’s estate after she dies for any payments made on her behalf after age 55. This is known as estate recovery.

Second, if she is receiving Medicaid coverage in a nursing home and she still owns her home, the Medicaid agency can put a lien on her house to recover payments if the house is sold. However, they must place the lien in order to have any right to reimbursement. If they don’t place the lien, then all of the house proceeds go to the seller. Of course, having the money will then make her ineligible for benefits going forward.

Third, Medicaid has a right to reimbursement from personal injury awards if it has paid for the beneficiary’s treatment for injuries caused by the accident, but they generally collect such payments at the time the case is resolved.

So, in your case, you can sell the house free and clear. Once you move to the new state, you’ll have reapply for Medicaid with that state’s Medicaid program.

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