The government uses the property of some people receiving long-term services and supports under Medical Assistance to recover costs after they die. Minnesota collected $61 million last year through estate recovery and liens.
Federal and state laws require the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and local agencies to recover costs from certain people receiving Medical Assistance — Minnesota’s Medicaid program — after they die. The requirement generally applies to those 55 or older with disabilities or health conditions who receive long-term services to live in the community, as well as people of any age permanently living in a medical institution, like a nursing home.
“Ideally the hard work and the savings of that generation would be able to be passed off to a successive generation to give them a leg up,” said Eric Carlson, a directing attorney at the national organization Justice in Aging. “But the way that estate recovery programs play out, too often you just yank the value back to the Medicaid program and leave the children and grandchildren with no head start at all.”
