medicaid asset recovery

[Danzig]

http://news.msn.com/us/seizure-of-as...-in-california

One of the Medi-Cal recipients is Campbell resident Anne-Louise Vernon, 59. She contends that California's aggressive cost-recovery program is unjust because people whose higher income levels allow them to get subsidized private health insurance through the new Obamacare health care exchanges don't have to pay back anything.

that's an excellent point! however, not sure i agree that this is an issue:

Still, Vernon and Richmond resident Chris Darling, 62, who also enrolled in the expanded Medi-Cal program, worry that their future medical costs will eat up their estates.

now, on the latter point.....
i am not a fan of people hiding all their various assets in trusts, etc, so as to insure leaving a bunch of property to their descendants while they go on medicaid so the govt (us) has to pay to take care of them in a nursing home while they live out the remainder of their life. if you have means, shouldn't you take care of yourself?
what am i missing in regards to protecting estates, and why i should be concerned if the darlings kids inherit something?

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Danzig

now, on the latter point.....
i am not a fan of people hiding all their various assets in trusts, etc, so as to insure leaving a bunch of property to their descendants while they go on medicaid so the govt (us) has to pay to take care of them in a nursing home while they live out the remainder of their life. if you have means, shouldn't you take care of yourself?
what am i missing in regards to protecting estates, and why i should be concerned if the darlings kids inherit something?

First of all, fascinating article; thank you for posting it.

Second- I see your point, but as the article I think makes clear, this is a problem for the middle and lower-income recipients of Medicaid, not the wealthy who will have private insurance. I know someone who works in the trusts and estates division of a law firm and the stuff the wealthy do to get out of paying tax is astounding. My personal favorite is putting their enormous apartments and houses under the ownership of a "trust" so that they never have to pay inheritance tax on them, because, technically, the property isn't owned by a person, and so the "owner" will never die. It's amazing the loopholes that exist.

So, the question is, do we think that the inheritance tax on the middle class should be 100 percent, because, effectively, that's what health care is imposing on the middle class; an inheritance tax of 100 percent as all of their savings are eaten up by the last six months of their lives. It's not "tax" as we think of it, but in the end, everything comes down to money in and money out, and we are setting up a situation where every generation of middle class kids have to start from scratch, while the kids of the wealthy get to perpetuate their 21st century aristocracy.

Thoughts? I know what I favor, but it's always the same and it always rhymes with "fax the witch."