Colorado Medicaid Look-Back Period
Colorado uses a 60-month transfer review but applies one of four regional 2026 private-pay penalty rates.
Colorado uses a five-year transfer review
Colorado’s long-term-care eligibility policy applies the standard 60-month, or five-year, look-back to transfers for less than fair market value by an institutionalized person or that person’s spouse. The point is not to relabel every family payment as a penalty: the facts of value received, the date of transfer, the ownership interest, and any statutory exception matter. But an uncompensated transfer can create a period in which Medicaid will not pay for long-term-care services even though other eligibility requirements are met (HCPF long-term-care eligibility rule; HCPF transfer-policy material).
Colorado’s statute also reflects the transfer rule’s policy purpose: the General Assembly paired recovery from estates with restrictions on qualifying for Medicaid by transferring property without fair and valuable consideration. That policy does not answer every transaction’s result, but it is a reason to keep appraisals, contracts, payment records, and evidence of fair value rather than relying on an informal description of a family deal (Colorado Revised Statutes, section 25.5-4-302).
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