Medicaid Recovery is Age Discrimination (benefit, mother, seniors, transfer)
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But it is good to know that a person could be shifted into Medicaid without specifically applying for that. One way to prevent that would be to pay the full premiums for the year, and then file for Premium Tax Credit (Form 8962) when you file taxes for the previous year, and if your taxable income is between 400% fpl and 138% fpl (or 100% fpl in states that have not "expanded" Medicaid - ha ha really useful "expansion"), then you can ask for return of the excess premium that you paid over the ACA amount (it gets returned to you in the form of a tax refund). But, perversely, if your taxable income is below 138% fpl (or below 100% fpl in states with unexpanded Medicaid), then you are not eligible for any refund of the premium (because you "should have" been on Medicaid).
THAT is the issue here, in my view. I am actually a bit gobsmacked that this could happen without the person's knowledge.
You might want to get some legal advice from an attorney who specializes in this kind of issue.
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It was designed for long term care & all states do that, Some states however Added Medicaid expansion to that as well. The Medicaid expansion covers everyone in NJ, EXCEPT between 55 & 65. They pay for the full premium & more. Welfare, immigrants illegals all pay nothing. Not only do you pay the full premium, If the doctor does not accept this as full payment, They just add it on. You are given a list of doctors that accept Medicaid but you have no idea which doctors add co-payments. The doctors do not know this when you go. Medicaid recovery is payable when you die so they tell you don't worry about it. I have racked up huge bills.
I think something must be wrong with your case, because I never heard of this. My brother had Medicaid from 62 until he turned 65, and didn't have to pay anything, nor did anyone request the money back (we are in NJ too). They must believe that you didn't actually qualify if they are asking for money to be returned. This is not happening to everyone between 55 and 65 who got Medicaid.
Do you realize most people on the Medicaid expansion have assets, But only 55 to 65 have to pay it back, If everyone on it had to pay it back I would probably be back to $80 a month, like I originally was. I have no problem with that. If I was making 18K a year I would only pay $60
I think something must be wrong with your case, because I never heard of this. My brother had Medicaid from 62 until he turned 65, and didn't have to pay anything, nor did anyone request the money back (we are in NJ too). They must believe that you didn't actually qualify if they are asking for money to be returned. This is not happening to everyone between 55 and 65 who got Medicaid.
You don't and are not asked for anything back until you die. When the state learns of your brothers dead at some point, then that obligation falls to the estate, or those those who expect to inherit something from it.
In other words they don't ask for anything back while you are alive.
If someone has financial assets, how can they be considered to be poor? Have you never heard of the Medicaid lookback period?
Medicaid isn't like it used to be when you had to show everything including assets and you had to apply for it claiming to be poor. It now works like ACA. You qualify for it regardless of assets like owning a home outright or money in the bank. It's strictly income that the IRS sees when you file taxes. If you apply for ACA or are currently on ACA and your income drops below some minimum level, you are put on medicaid, no questions asked and are sent notification in the mail that you are now on medicaid.
The lady I know this happened to, didn't realize she was on medicaid until 2 months after it happened because it took them that long to notify her. In the meantime she continued making her payment to ACA.
"State Medicaid programs must recover certain Medicaid benefits paid on behalf of a Medicaid enrollee. For individuals age 55 or older,states are required to seek recovery of payments from the individual's estate for nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services. States have the option to recover payments for all other Medicaid services provided to these individuals, except Medicare cost-sharing paid on behalf of Medicare Savings Program beneficiaries..."
Medicaid isn't like it used to be when you had to show everything including assets and you had to apply for it claiming to be poor. It now works like ACA. You qualify for it regardless of assets or money in the bank. It's strictly income that the IRS sees. If you apply for ACA or are currently on ACA and your income drops below some minimum level, you are put on medicaid, no questions asked.
I had no idea. I actually don't know anyone that uses ACA.
Do you realize most people on the Medicaid expansion have assets, But only 55 to 65 have to pay it back, If everyone on it had to pay it back I would probably be back to $80 a month, like I originally was. I have no problem with that. If I was making 18K a year I would only pay $60
It's not true though, my brother didn't have to pay anything back.
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), then you can ask for return of the excess premium that you paid over the ACA amount (it gets returned to you in the form of a tax refund). But, perversely, if your taxable income is below 138% fpl (or below 100% fpl in states with unexpanded Medicaid), then you are not eligible for any refund of the premium 
(because you "should have" been on Medicaid).
