Wyoming Medicaid Estate Recovery

Recovery is generally blocked or delayed for: No recovery while the recipient's spouse is alive. W.S. 42-4-206(a) has the department file its claim upon the recipient's death if single, or upon the death of the surviving spouse of a married couple. Recovery can proceed against the surviving spouse's estate after that spouse dies; No claim may be filed against the estate of a single person, or of the surviving spouse of a married couple, who is survived by a child under 21 years old (W.S. 42-4-206(d)); No claim may be filed against the estate of a single person, or of the surviving spouse of a married couple, who is survived by a child of any age who is blind or permanently and totally disabled as defined in 42 U.S.C. 1382c (W.S. 42-4-206(d)); Undue hardship: W.S. 42-4-206(f) requires the Department of Health to waive recovery when it would work an undue hardship, under criteria set by the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services. The department's brochure says the property must be part of a working farm or ranch that is the sole source of income for the heirs and provides their food and shelter, and that the department will not review a hardship request until the Medicaid client has died; Sibling with an equity interest living in the home: the department may not place a pre-death lien on the home while the recipient's sibling who has an equity interest in the home, and who lived there for at least one year immediately before the recipient was admitted to the facility, lawfully lives there (W.S. 42-4-207(d)(iii)). A pre-death lien is also not recoverable while a sibling who lived in the home for at least one year before that admission has lived there continuously since (42-4-207(e)(i)). The department's brochure says it will delay estate recovery in the sibling case; Caregiver child: a pre-death lien on the home is not recoverable while a child of the recipient lives there, if the child lived in the home for at least two years immediately before the recipient was admitted to the facility, has lived there continuously since, and proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the care the child gave let the recipient stay home rather than move to a facility (W.S. 42-4-207(e)(ii)). The department's brochure says it will delay estate recovery in this case and that the child must prove the care; No pre-death lien may be placed on the home while the recipient's spouse, or a child who is under 21 or blind or disabled, lawfully lives there (W.S. 42-4-207(d)(i) and (ii)), and a pre-death lien dissolves if the recipient is discharged and returns home (42-4-207(f)).

After a Medicaid recipient dies, the Wyoming Department of Health files a claim against the estate for the medical assistance Wyoming paid. Under W.S. 42-4-206(a) and (c), the claim covers assistance paid after the person turned 55, or while the person was an inpatient in a nursing facility, an intermediate care facility for people with intellectual disability or another medical institution, and it does not include interest. For a married couple, the claim is filed when the second spouse dies, against the estate of that surviving spouse; when the surviving spouse never received Medicaid, a claim for the first spouse's care is limited to estate assets that were marital property or jointly owned property at any time during the marriage (42-4-206(c)). The claim is treated as an expense of the decedent's last illness, which places it in the sixth class of debts when an estate cannot pay everyone (42-4-206(b); 2-7-701(a)(vi)), and no statute of limitations applies to it (42-4-206(b)). The department may also file a lien against any property of the estate, as the expanded definition in 42-4-206(g) describes it, by filing a notice in the county where the real property sits, and may amend that lien before the order closing the estate (42-4-207(j)). The personal representative must mail the notice to creditors to the Department of Health when the decedent received Medicaid (2-7-205(a)(iii)), and a summary distribution by court decree requires sending the department a copy of the application within 10 days after first publication (2-1-205(e)). The department's brochure lists nursing home, home and community based, hospital and prescription drug services, and all other services covered by the state Medicaid plan, as costs it recovers.

Yes. Wyoming offers an undue-hardship waiver. Contact Wyoming Department of Health, Division of Healthcare Financing (Estate Recovery Program, Program Integrity Unit) at (307) 777-7531 to request the waiver and ask about deadlines.

Wyoming Department of Health, Division of Healthcare Financing (Estate Recovery Program, Program Integrity Unit), phone (307) 777-7531, https://health.wyo.gov/healthcarefin/medicaid/faqs/.