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The Department of Vermont Health Access, part of the Agency of Human Services, recovers Medicaid long-term care costs from the estates of recipients who were 55 or older when they received covered services. Vermont layers a state homestead exemption on top of the federal rules, protecting the homestead when it passes to certain lower-income or caregiving lineal heirs or siblings.
Administering agency
Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) — Estate Recovery
Authority
33 V.S.A. § 1906a; 42 U.S.C. § 1396p
Vermont recovers Medicaid-paid long-term care services — nursing facility care, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug costs received at age 55 or older — and any Medicaid services received while the recipient was permanently institutionalized.
Recovery is deferred while a surviving spouse is living, and while there is a surviving child under 21 or a blind or permanently and totally disabled child of any age. These are federal protections under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p.
Under 33 V.S.A. § 1906a, no recovery is taken against a homestead passing to a lineal heir or sibling who has income below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or who contributed significantly — financially or as a caregiver — to letting the decedent delay or avoid nursing home placement.
When someone dies
4-step process for Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) — Estate Recovery.
View details →Administering agency
Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) — Estate Recovery
Authority
33 V.S.A. § 1906a; 42 U.S.C. § 1396p