Medicaid Estate Recovery in Kansas: when someone dies
A 4-step process for Kansas Department of Health and Environment — Division of Health Care Finance, Estate Recovery Unit (KanCare/Medicaid) after a death in Kansas.
Administering agency
Kansas Department of Health and Environment — Division of Health Care Finance, Estate Recovery Unit (KanCare/Medicaid)
Authority
K.S.A. 39-709(k); K.A.R. 129-6-150
Steps to take
- Determine whether the deceased received Medicaid (KanCare) medical assistance at age 55 or older, or as an inpatient in a long-term care facility (including a PACE institutional arrangement).
- Contact the Estate Recovery Unit through the state's estate recovery contractor, Health Management Systems (800-817-8617), to confirm whether a recovery claim applies and to request the amount.
- Treat an allowed claim as a first-class debt of the estate — payable after reasonable funeral expenses and before distributions to heirs.
- Request an undue-hardship waiver from the Estate Recovery Unit if recovery would create undue hardship for the surviving family or for a business the decedent owned an interest in.
Kansas Department of Health and Environment — Division of Health Care Finance, Estate Recovery Unit (KanCare/Medicaid)
Phone: 800-817-8617
Visit the agency website →Frequently asked questions
No. Kansas claims the cost of medical assistance paid after June 30, 1992 when the recipient was 55 or older, and when the recipient was admitted as an inpatient in a long-term care facility (including a PACE institutional arrangement). For assistance paid on or after July 1, 2004, the claim reaches the recipient's "medical assistance estate" as defined in K.S.A. 39-709 — property passing by joint tenancy, transfer-on-death deed, payable-on-death contract, life estate, trust, or annuity, limited to the recipient's own interest.
Under K.A.R. 129-6-150, the estate is not subject to a claim for correctly paid assistance if a spouse, or a child under 21 or meeting the state's disability criteria, survives the recipient by at least six months. If a spouse survives, the claim is filed against the surviving spouse's estate instead. A lien is not imposed on the home while a spouse, a child under 21, a blind or permanently disabled child, or a qualifying sibling lives there.
A recipient, a recipient's spouse, or a surviving family member may request an undue-hardship waiver of a claim or a lien. The Estate Recovery Unit weighs the type of assets, whether the claim can be satisfied another way, actions the family took that reduced Medicaid costs, the impact on the surviving family's finances, the impact on a business the decedent had an interest in, and any other relevant factors.
Sources
Data sourced from Medicaid Estate Recovery in Kansas primary sources (4 pages reviewed). How we research.
Administering agency
Kansas Department of Health and Environment — Division of Health Care Finance, Estate Recovery Unit (KanCare/Medicaid)
Authority
K.S.A. 39-709(k); K.A.R. 129-6-150