Do you have to pay back Medicaid in Louisiana?
In most cases, you do not have to pay back Louisiana Medicaid for healthcare you received while you were alive. However, after some Medicaid members die, Louisiana may recover the cost of certain long-term care services from money or property in their estate. This is called Medicaid estate recovery.
Louisiana estate recovery generally applies to people who received certain Medicaid-funded long-term care services after age 55. It does not mean that families normally get a bill for routine Medicaid care.
What is the Louisiana Medicaid Estate Recovery Program?
The Medicaid Estate Recovery Program allows Louisiana Medicaid to seek repayment from a person's estate after that person dies in certain situations.
In Louisiana, this applies to Medicaid members who received certain services after age 55, including:
Nursing home or other long-term care services
Home and community-based services
Certain hospital and prescription drug services related to that care
An estate can include property or other assets a person owned when they died.
There are important protections for families. For example, recovery may be delayed when the person has a surviving spouse. An estate may also qualify for an exemption or waiver in certain situations, including when there is a surviving child under age 21 or a child who is blind or has a disability.
For the latest rules, visit the Louisiana Department of Health or the federal Medicaid Estate Recovery page.
Does Medicaid estate recovery apply to children and families?
Routine Medicaid care for children and most working-age adults is not part of Louisiana's estate recovery program. Louisiana's program applies to certain long-term care services received after age 55.
That means care such as a child's checkup, vaccines, prenatal care, or routine primary care does not create a bill that a family is expected to pay back simply because Medicaid covered it.
If you received long-term care through Medicaid after age 55 and have questions about what could happen to your estate, contact Louisiana Medicaid for information about your specific situation.
Nest services may be available to your family at no additional cost through your Medicaid health plan. Call 866-222-NEST (6378) to check your eligibility.
