What is an appropriate amount of gift money an elderly parent can give without it looking bad?

If you're asking about the lookback during a Medicaid application, I've wondered the same thing myself: how large of a sum would alert the sirens and red lights when the Medicaid case worker is looking at your parents' bank statements? I've heard that anything more than a $200 gift will be questioned, but that may not be true. Does anyone know, or is it just subject to the state (I'm in NJ) or the individual case worker doing the app? I do know the application process is a real pain if the worker suspects your parent of transferring money "gifts" to anyone.

If you check out the IRS, a gift can be given of $13,000 a year without tax consequences. It's always good to do a search of IRS.gov to verify that it hasn't changed. Publication 950 is what you want to check for the gift tax annual exclusion.