Basically, the strategy turns $100k into something like $6k/yr for the rest of your spouse's life (depending on age and gender), and makes you eligible for Medicaid. That said, you probably want to buy a slot in a nursing home that accepts Medicaid first, then "run out of money" and apply for Medicaid once you're in the nursing home. It's illegal to kick you out if they accept Medicaid and you're transitioning from private payment to Medicaid.
That said, nursing homes are hellholes, and I'd rather die with relatively minimal palliative care, in my own home, with friends and family visiting. That doesn't require BS like this. There's some circumstances where the Medicaid route may be better, so it's nice to know of this option.
>...To prevent candidates from simply giving away their money or resources to qualify for Medicaid, the federal government implemented the “look-back period”. This is a set period of time prior to the individual’s application during which the Medicaid administering agency reviews all the financial transactions that the senior has made. If a transaction is found in violation of the look back period’s rules, the applicant will be assessed a penalty. Penalties come in the form of a period of time that the applicant is made ineligible for Medicaid.
https://www.payingforseniorcare.com/medicaid/look-back-perio...
The "lookback period" is usually 5 years.
Also since nursing homes lose money on medicaid patients they tend to have limits on how many medicaid patients they will accept. If you are on medicaid, you might not be able to to find a reasonable nursing home that will accept you.
A better answer us to buy long-term care insurance. If you go into a nursing home and you eventually have to go on medicaid, it is illegal for them to kick you out.
The gift route gets clawed back; the system is designed to take all your money first before subsidizing care.
And death is easy to bear and forget than living through the pain of seeing your family go through helpless moments, and the humiliation of poverty till the eventual arrival of death.
Human life takes a lot of make up and dressing to make it look good.
Friends and family aren't exactly hitmen.
Long term care insurance should be purchased after age 60 to offset those care costs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_care_insurance
Nursing homes and hospices are designed to suck out your funds until you are dry, then dump you on state aid.
1. https://www.senioradvisor.com/san-jose-ca/how-much-do-san-jo...
"The average annual cost to seniors nationally is $80,300 for a semi-private and $91,250 for a private room in 2015"
2. I originally had "in a state funded hospice", but opo pointed out that medicare will strip you of your benefits due to their claw back system. You may want to look into committing a felony, for state funded care.