Medicaid Estate Planning

Pursuant to congressional requests, GAO determined the: (1) prevalence of Medicaid estate planning for purposes of becoming Medicaid-eligible; (2) value of assets sheltered through Medicaid estate planning; and (3) extent to which states are enforcing Medicaid requirements concerning Medicaid estate planning. GAO found that: (1) half of the Medicaid applicants converted assets from one form to another or transferred assets to another party; (2) asset conversions averaged $5,600 and typically involved setting aside money for burial arrangements; (3) other types of conversions included home repairs and automobile purchases; (4) asset transfers were far less frequent but involved larger amounts of money; and (5) half of the applicants that transferred assets were denied eligibility.