Medicaid Estate Recovery in Wyoming

What is recovered

Wyo. Stat. 42-4-206(c) limits the claim to medical assistance rendered after the individual turned 55 or during a period of institutionalization, and the claim does not include interest.¹

Who is subject to recovery

Recovery applies to recipients who received medical assistance at age 55 or older, and to recipients who were inpatients in a nursing facility, intermediate care facility for people with intellectual disability, or other medical institution.¹

What counts as the estate

Wyo. Stat. 42-4-206(g)(ii) counts all real and personal property in the individual's probate estate, plus any other property in which the individual had legal title or an interest at death.¹

The estate includes assets passing to a survivor, heir, or assign through joint tenancy, tenancy in common, survivorship, life estate, or living trust.¹

Wyoming Medicaid Rules ch. 35, § 11 lets the Department recover from the non-probate estate, including directly from a transferee or other person holding property received from it.²

When recovery is deferred or barred

Under Wyo. Stat. 42-4-206(d), no claim is filed against the estate if the decedent is survived by a child who has not attained 21 years of age, or who is blind or permanently and totally disabled as defined by 42 U.S.C. 1382c.¹

Undue-hardship waiver

Under Wyo. Stat. 42-4-206(f), the Department of Health establishes procedures, under standards specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to waive recovery if it would work an undue hardship.¹

The Department's Estate Recovery brochure describes qualifying property as part of a working farm or ranch that is the heirs' sole source of income and provides their food and shelter.³

The brochure states that Medicaid does not review a request for an undue hardship waiver until the Medicaid client has died.³

When the Department imposes a lien or files a probate claim, Wyoming Medicaid Rules ch. 35, § 12 requires it to mail the personal representative or known heirs written notice of the right to request an undue hardship waiver.²

The request is mailed to the Department by certified mail, return receipt requested, within 33 days of the date of the notice. A request that lacks the information the rule requires is dismissed with prejudice.²

How the state files its claim

Wyo. Stat. 42-4-206(b) treats the claim as an expense of the last illness of the decedent.¹

Liens on real property

Wyoming Medicaid Rules ch. 35, § 11 lets the Department impose a lien on property of the estate for assistance provided at 55 or older or during institutionalization.²

When the state does not pursue a claim

Under Wyoming Medicaid Rules ch. 35, § 11, the Department may decline to pursue an estate recovery it determines is not cost-effective.²

Governing law: Wyo. Stat. 42-4-206; 42-4-207; Wyoming Medicaid Rules ch. 35 (Medicaid Benefit Recovery)

Undue hardship waiver request, by certified mail, return receipt requested

within 33 days of the date of the Department's notice of a lien or probate claim; a late or incomplete request is dismissed with prejudice²

1. 1.Wyo. Stat. Title 42 (compiled statutes), including 42-4-206 and 42-4-207
2. 2.Wyoming Medicaid Rules ch. 35, Medicaid Benefit Recovery (eff. 02/19/2019)
3. 3.Wyoming Medicaid Estate Recovery Brochure (March 2022)