Many Americans rely on Medicaid when fighting diseases. But there's a catch. Often, states try to recoup the costs after the recipients die.

As Salvatore LoGrande fought cancer and all the pain that came with it, his daughters promised to keep him in the white, pitched roof house he worked so hard to buy all those decades ago.

So, Sandy LoGrande thought it was a mistake when, a year after her father’s death, Massachusetts billed her $177,000 for her father’s Medicaid expenses and threatened to sue for his home if she didn’t pay up quickly.

“The home was everything,” to her father said LoGrande, 57.

But the bill and accompanying threat weren’t a mistake.

Rather, it was part of a routine process the federal government requires of every state: to recover money from the assets of dead people who, in their final years, relied on Medicaid, the taxpayer-funded health insurance for the poorest Americans.

This month, a Democratic lawmaker proposed scuttling the “cruel” program altogether. Critics argue the program collects too little — roughly 1% — of the more than $150 billion Medicaid spends yearly on long-term care. They also say many states fail to warn people who sign up for Medicaid that big bills and claims to their property might await their families once they die.

  • constantokra
    32·
    8 months ago

    It’s more evil than you think. There are all sorts of ways to protect assets from Medicaid. Of course, it’s only worth doing when there are considerable assets. So basically if you have nothing, Medicaid costs nothing. If you have a little, Medicaid takes it all. If you have a lot, Medicaid will likely take a tiny fraction of your assets. And if you’re caught off guard, it takes everything.