Who can be subject to a claim
MDHHS says estate recovery applies to beneficiaries age 55 or older who received long-term-care services on or after September 30, 2007. Recoverable service categories include nursing-facility care, hospice, adult home help, adult home health, MI Choice, and PACE services (MDHHS Estate Recovery).
Once a beneficiary is subject to recovery, the MDHHS FAQ says the state seeks all Medicaid services received after age 55, not only the long-term-care service that first created exposure. Certain Medicare cost-sharing benefits are exempt from recovery (MDHHS Estate Recovery FAQ; MDHHS Estate Recovery).
The Michigan home-planning point: under current rules, a Lady Bird deed transfers property outside probate, while MDHHS describes ordinary estate recovery as limited to probate property. A qualifying Partnership asset disregard is a stated exception to the probate-only reach (
State Bar of Michigan Journal;
MDHHS Estate Recovery).
Deferrals protect specified family members
MDHHS defers recovery while a surviving spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or permanently disabled child is living. It also defers recovery from the home while a qualifying caretaker/survivor or sibling with an equity interest meets the stated residency and care requirements (MDHHS Estate Recovery).
Hardship relief has a defined process
An undue hardship may exist when an estate is a primary income-producing asset of survivors with limited income or when it is a home of modest value. MDHHS states a household-income-under-200%-of-FPL test and a resources-under-$10,000 test for the hardship process (MDHHS Estate Recovery; MDHHS MSA-0008 hardship application).
For an estate-level comparison, see Florida's Medicaid estate-recovery page; Michigan's Lady Bird deed makes probate especially consequential (MSU Extension). See The Home.
Not mutually exclusive. Most families combine two or three funding pillars — this one rarely stands alone.
The
Journey Assessment ranks all ten pillars against your specific situation and
recommends the top three.
