Property in Washington State held under joint tenancy or a life estate will no longer be exempt from estate recovery under a new Medicaid estate recovery law.
The law, which applies to forms of joint ownership or life estates created after June 30, also allows the state to place liens on property while Medicaid recipients are still in a nursing home after a doctor certifies that the patient is unlikely to return home.
"Now the only way for seniors to protect their property from Medicaid repayment is to give up ownership outright at least three years before receiving coverage," reports The Seattle Times.
Washington State collects about $13 million a year from estate recovery, a fraction of the $1 billion that it spends annually for long-term care for Medicaid patients.
To read the full text of the bill, click here.
To read a summary of the changes to the law, click here.
To read the Seattle Times article on the change, click here.