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My stepdad died 9 months ago. I have not heard from Medicaid. I called but all I was told was they were behind. Is there a limit on how long they have to notify me? What do I do? I just want closure. I, not his grown children, took care of him. He was on Medicaid May to Aug 2017.


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Bumping up. Does anyone know how long Medicaid recovery takes to get in touch?

What state are you in, Sugar?
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When was the last time that you called them? I have found that if I don't get a reply from my phone calls, then I can usually get some type of reply after I send a letter via Certified Mail with a Signed Receipt (That little green postcard that gets mailed back to you). That way the company that you are trying to get information from has a "hard copy"request in writing that is harder to ignore than a phone call. The internet has several sample letters that you can revise for your situation.
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Arkansas, I call the DHS person who handled the case at the end of March. She said she was going to send them an email. She said that Medicaid had changed over some software and that put them behind. I am sure that when I do hear from them they are going to request I send what little money there is in that account to them. Wondering if there is a time limit on them contacting me.
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I checked with the nursing home in March also. They had not received their payments from Medicaid at that time. They had difficulty getting the bill to medicaid due to software change over. My understanding is the bill was finally received by medicaid in December.
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Depending on your state Medicaid may either try to file a claim and/or the Atty General would contact you.
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My understanding of trusts is not much. I understand irrevokable because my nephew has a Special Needs Trust. I assume Medicaid knew about this trust? Was it set up for you? Five years before SDad needed Medicaid? Does Medicaid expect payment from this trust?

Seems like Medicaid has a good reason why they can't send on the information. I requested a letter, after Moms death, asking what was owed because I was selling her house and needed to set a price for a quick sale. In the 3 months Mom was in the NH on Medicaid, she owes about 6k.
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Sugar - I’m assuming the $ in the “trust fund” is actually the part of his SS monthly income that was set aside for his personal needs allowance (PNA) at the NH & set into an in-house “trust” accounts in his name. My answer is based on this. If the PNA had you as a signatory on your his account then after death in my experience, the NH will -once they have gotten paid & his room&board is zeroed out - send to whomever was the primary signature a check for the balance of the PNA. So if death was October & NH shows zero balance due in November then a check to you from the NH for Dec. If the PNA is the average $50-$60 a mo for most states and he regularly went to barber shop at the NH, the PNA will not be very much $..... perhaps a few hundred at best.

What the amount is is important as it triggers IF Estate Recovery happens. 

Now regarding Estate Recovery aka MERP, that has a federally placed cost benefit or cost effectiveness requirement for MERP to go forward. The standards are Medicaid owed under 3k or value of estate under 10k. Regarding “value” that is usually determined by assets less debt of estate as filed in probate. Getting to the 10k mark can be pretty easily had (even if f they died owning a low value home) as executor has to pay funeral&burial costs, property costs, atty/probate court fees and whatever other legit items filed against the estate plus executor costs to get value under 10k. Debts of estate filed that are in priority as either their secured claims or ahead of Medicaid as per your state laws (a level of claim by class probate system). Medicaid is a unsecured creditor so usually down on list of priority for payment for probate. Like for TX, MERP is a class 7 claim so all debts filed in class 1-6 are priority payment ahead of class 7.

 The issue perhaps will be that in order to use the cost benefit requirement you have to file probate. I’d suggest you have a file with documentation to show any estate costs you or other family paid for that can be used to offset any attempt by Medicaid or their outside contractor for MERP. 
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After I became his legal guardian I sold his home and put the money into a checking account. From that account I paid for his assisted living and then nursing home expenses plus his personal stuff. Once it was spent down I filed for him to have medicaid. Part of his being approved I had to open a trust fund to cycle his money into and then pay the nursing home, his health insurance and his personal money of $40 per month. Upon his death he had about $4,000 in that account, no other accounts, no assets such as a home or autos.
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Really, Moms home was made payee for SS and pension. She had about $200 in her PNA account that I was able to get from the acct that the NH set up. Why health insurance when Medicaid pays everything? Just be patient, they will get to you.
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