If you are eligible for Medicaid, you will receive a Medicaid Identification Card on the first of each month. It also covers medical services not provided by a nursing home or residential setting. DSHS will review your financial eligibility to receive benefits at least once a year. Recovery of Medicaid funds from your estate By law, the state must recover certain long-term care benefit payments, plus hospital services and prescription drug services, from recipients' estates after their death. Recovery is deferred while there is a surviving child who is 20 years old or younger or who is blind or disabled.
Recovery is also deferred until the death of the surviving spouse.
Hardship provisions to protect dependent heirs may apply. Collection only applies to property the Medicaid recipient owned or had an interest in at the time of death. It does not apply to property solely owned by a spouse or child. DSHS may file a lien or make a claim against any property which is included in the deceased recipient's estate. Before filing a lien against real property, DSHS will give notice and an opportunity for a hearing to the estate's personal representative, the decedent's surviving spouse, or any other established titled owner of the property.