It depends on your circumstances.
If you are enrolled in MA when you are 55 years old or older, then, after you die, Minnesota must recover the amount that MA paid for your health care after you turned 55 years old. Minnesota recovers this amount by filing a claim against your estate after your death.
Minnesota must seek recovery of MA health care costs regardless of your age if both of the following apply:
- You permanently lived in a medical institution.
- You received long-term-care services paid for by MA while living there.
The amount of the claim is no more than what MA paid for your health care services.
Most of the time, the cost of MA services does not have to be paid back until after you die and only when there is not a surviving spouse, a child under 21 or a child who is permanently disabled. When you die and you are survived by your spouse, the claim may be filed against the estate of your spouse.
A claim may be filed against your home within your estate and collected upon only when none of these people are still living in the home:
- A sibling who lived with you in your home for a least one year before you moved to a medical institution and has been living there since that date
- An adult child or grandchild who lived with you in your home and gave you care so you could live at home for at least two years before you moved to a medical institution and has been living there since that date
If your home is sold or transferred, then the two exceptions above do not apply anymore, and Minnesota can collect against the value of the home.
