By Robert C. Gerhard, III, Certified Elder Law Attorney
Although many people know about the existence of Pennsylvania’s Medicaid Estate Recovery Program, the payback comes as a surprise to some after Medicaid benefits have been approved. Many family members do not find out about the payback until after the death of a loved one, even though the Commonwealth does try make the information known in several ways:
- Attorney Gerhard’s Law Treatise, Pennsylvania Medicaid Long Term Care. Some public sources of information only go so far with the details about the Estate Recovery Program. A deeper dive into the estate recovery can be found in Chapter 6 of the law treatise, Pennsylvania Medicaid, Long-term Care, which is updated annually by its author, Robert C. Gerhard, III. While this book is not a substitute for legal advice, other Pennsylvania lawyers use it as a reference to research estate recovery questions for their own clients. Attorney Gerhard also wrote a detailed blog articles that can be found here: Pennsylvania Medicaid Estate Recovery Program.
- Notice with Medicaid Authorization, Form PA-162. Basic information is sometimes sent to the Medicaid recipient by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services when Medicaid long-term care benefits are initially authorized.
- Medicaid Caseworker at County Assistance Office. Caseworkers sometimes explain the Estate Recovery Program during the Medicaid application process. These conversations are less common now that the application process is done by mail, and direct contact between the family of a nursing home resident and the Medicaid caseworker at the County Assistance Office is limited, and normally focused on eligibility issues, not estate recovery.
- Medicaid Application. The actual application for Medicaid long-term care benefits, Form PA-600L, briefly mentions the existence of the Estate Recovery Program.
- Estate Recovery Phone Number. Pennsylvania’s estate recovery collection program has a phone number for consumers and executors who may owe them money to call with basic questions: (800) 692-7462. This number is helpful for general questions. You can call the debt collector directly if you wish, but to secure legal advice and advocacy, you can contact our office for guidance. If there is nothing we can do, we will tell you, but sometimes we are able to avoid or minimize estate recovery based on the unique facts of your case. If an exception applies, our office can advocate on your behalf for an applicable exception or in cases of undue hardship.
- PA Department of Human Services Website. The state has a good website that offers some general information about the Estate Recovery Program as well as an online brochure. That said, the government’s own brochure recommends in three separate places that you “may want to talk with a lawyer” or in the case of a deed transfer that it is “very important to talk with your lawyer.”
- Estate Recovery Regulations. The applicable estate recovery regulations can be found at 55 Pa. Code §258, but some of the regulations have not kept pace with the changes in administration of the program over the years. Until the regulations are updated, the best way to make sure you are not missing an exception to estate recovery is to contact an elder law attorney who is familiar with this aspect of the Medicaid program.
The direct path to secure answers to your estate recovery questions is to contact our law office for a consultation. The legal fee for the consultation is a permissible estate administration expense, paid ahead of the estate recovery claim under Pennsylvania’s priority statue. For additional details, read our full blog article on the Pennsylvania Medicaid Estate Recovery Program.
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Disclaimer: We recommend that you receive ongoing legal advice from an estate attorney before attempting to administer a trust or an estate. If you wish to secure our services to provide guidance and representation in connection with a trust or estate administration, please contact us.
