The look-back period is the period of time the State will look back into your financial history when you apply for benefits. It currently is five years. If the State finds a transfer of assets (gift) during that time, they will impose a penalty period, during which you are disqualified from Medicaid (Title XIX, Title 19). The length of the penalty period is calculated based on the value of your gifts during the look-back period, and can be much shorter than five years. You can use that methodology to calculate the amount of assets you can transfer and wait out the resulting penalty period before applying for Medicaid, but certain requirements must be met to start the penalty period so that it will end when you need to start receiving Medicaid benefits. (See Avoid Medicaid’s Look-Back Period.)