Does a Life Insurance Policy Owned by Someone Else Have to be Spent Down for Medicaid?

Photo by Thomas de LUZE on Unsplash
Question:
If a child is the owner of a life insurance policy, and the parent is the insured, is the policy excluded from a Medicaid spend down? There was no transfer of ownership; the child was the owner from the beginning.
Response:
Yes, the policy does not need to be reported to the state Medicaid agency. Only the Medicaid applicant’s assets and those of his spouse need to be reported on his application. Assets owned by others, even if the applicant is connected in some way other than ownership, do not need to be reported.