Medicaid plays a crucial role in ensuring that millions of working-class, aging, and disabled individuals can receive necessary long-term services and supports (LTSS) in their own homes and communities. Federal policy, however, forces state Medicaid programs to pursue recovery of LTSS costs accrued at age 55 and older from the estates of deceased beneficiaries, often leading to the loss of a family home and wealth. Those losses disproportionately affect low-income, Black and Brown, and disabled communities but recoup less than one percent of total Medicaid LTSS spending.
This issue brief outlines the reforms states can implement to their estate recovery programs to reduce their impacts on working families.
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