Idaho Medicaid Estate Recovery

Federal family protections still apply

Idaho Code says no adjustment or recovery occurs until after the deaths of both spouses and only when there is no surviving child under 21 or a surviving child who is blind or permanently and totally disabled. The statute also says recovery is not authorized to the extent the need for aid resulted from a crime committed against the recipient (Idaho Code § 56-218).

A personal representative of an estate subject to a claim must give the department written notice of appointment within 30 days. Idaho's law also makes an estate distribution before satisfying a recovery claim voidable, so it is risky for heirs to distribute property before identifying and resolving a DHW claim (Idaho Code § 56-218).

Hardship is a rule-based process

Idaho Code directs the director to establish undue-hardship waiver rules. The statute specifically calls for rules addressing income-producing property that is a primary support source for family members, estates below a rule-specified value, and recovery that would cause heirs to become eligible for public assistance (Idaho Code § 56-218).

The statute does not supply a current dollar threshold for the low-value-estate hardship category. A request therefore needs the actual DHW recovery notice and current hardship rules rather than an assumption that a particular home value automatically qualifies (Idaho Code § 56-218).

Idaho can file an estate lien and, in stated circumstances, foreclose without probate. Those enforcement provisions make a survivorship deed or revocable trust a poor substitute for a recovery analysis (Idaho Code § 56-218).

The statute also says a recovery claim is a debt with the preference described in Idaho probate law. That priority and the expanded definition of estate are reasons to give the recovery question the same attention as the initial Medicaid application (Idaho Code § 56-218).