Editing Medicaid (section)

===Medicaid estate recovery===
{{main|Medicaid estate recovery}}
Since the Medicaid program was established in 1965, "states have been permitted to recover from the estates of deceased Medicaid recipients who were over age 65 when they received benefits and who had no surviving spouse, minor child, or adult disabled child."<ref name="Kiely">Eugene Kiely, [http://www.factcheck.org/2014/01/medicaid-estate-recovery-program/ Medicaid Estate Recovery Program], [[FactCheck.org]], [[Annenberg Public Policy Center]], University of Pennsylvania (January 10, 2014).</ref> In 1993, Congress enacted the [[Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993]], which required states to attempt to recoup "the expense of long-term care and related costs for deceased Medicaid recipients 55 or older."<ref name="Kiely"/> The Act allowed states to recover other Medicaid expenses for deceased Medicaid recipients 55 or older, at each state's choice.<ref name="Kiely"/> However, states were prohibited from estate recovery when "there is a surviving spouse, a child under the age of 21 or a child of any age who is blind or disabled." The Act also carved out other exceptions for adult children who have served as caretakers in the homes of the deceased, property owned jointly by siblings, and income-producing property, such as farms."<ref name="Kiely"/> Each state now maintains a Medicaid estate recovery program, although the sum of money collected significantly varies from state to state, "depending on how the state structures its program and how vigorously it pursues collections."<ref name="Kiely"/>