minnesota health care nursing home.

[raselbi]

we just put our mom in a nursing home, can the state or county take her home for payments on her future health care? she does have medicare.

If you go into a nursing home and need Medicaid, your house is not counted as an asset if you intend or are expected to return home. For example, if you break a hip and need to stay for a short time in a nursing home to get well, your house should not count for Medicaid purposes. You would not have to sell the house, and the state would not put a lien on it.

If you go into a nursing home and do not expect or intend to return home, the house is still not counted for Medicaid if any of these people live in it:

Your spouse;
A child under 21;
An adult blind or disabled child; or
A brother or sister who also partly owns the house and has lived there for at least one year before you went into a nursing home.
Any of these people will be able to stay in the house and the state will not place a lien on the house or require you to sell it.

However, if none of these people lives in your house, and you do not expect or intend to leave the nursing home, you will be required to sell your house for fair market value. As long as you are making a good-faith effort to sell your house, its value will not be counted for Medicaid purposes. The state puts a lien on the house while you are trying to sell it.