(A) As used in this section:

Ask an insurance law question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(1) “Assets” include all of an individual’s income and resources and those of the individual’s spouse, including any income or resources the individual or spouse is entitled to but does not receive because of action by any of the following:

(a) The individual or spouse;

(b) A person or government entity, including a court or administrative agency, with legal authority to act in place of or on behalf of the individual or spouse;

(c) A person or government entity, including a court or administrative agency, acting at the direction or on the request of the individual or spouse.

(2) “Home and community-based services” means home and community-based services furnished under a medicaid waiver granted by the United States secretary of health and human services under the “Social Security Act,” section 1915(c) or (d), 42 U.S.C. § 1396n(c) or (d).

(3) “Institutionalized individual” means a resident of a nursing facility, an inpatient in a medical institution for whom a payment is made based on a level of care provided in a nursing facility, or an individual described in the “Social Security Act,” section 1902(a)(10)(A)(ii)(VI), 42 U.S.C. § 1396a(a)(10)(A)(ii)(VI).

(4) “Look-back date” means the date that is a number of months specified in rules adopted under section 5163.02 of the Revised Code immediately before either of the following:

(a) The date an individual becomes an institutionalized individual if the individual is eligible for medicaid on that date;

(b) The date an individual applies for medicaid while an institutionalized individual.

(5) “Nursing facility equivalent services” means services that are covered by the medicaid program, equivalent to nursing facility services, provided by an institution that provides the same level of care as a nursing facility, and provided to an inpatient of the institution who is a medicaid recipient eligible for medicaid-covered nursing facility equivalent services.

(6) “Undue hardship” means being deprived of either of the following:

(a) Medical care such that an individual’s health or life is endangered;

(b) Food, clothing, shelter, or other necessities of life.

(B) Except as provided in division (C) of this section and rules adopted under section 5163.02 of the Revised Code, an institutionalized individual is ineligible for nursing facility services, nursing facility equivalent services, and home and community-based services if the individual or individual’s spouse disposes of assets for less than fair market value on or after the look-back date. The institutionalized individual’s ineligibility shall begin on a date determined in accordance with rules adopted under section 5163.02 of the Revised Code and shall continue for a number of months determined in accordance with such rules.

(C)(1) An institutionalized individual may be granted a waiver of all or a portion of the period of ineligibility to which the individual would otherwise be subjected under division (B) of this section if the ineligibility would cause an undue hardship for the individual.

(2) An institutionalized individual shall be granted a waiver of all or a portion of the period of ineligibility if the administrator of the nursing facility in which the individual resides has notified the individual of a proposed transfer or discharge under section 3721.16 of the Revised Code due to failure to pay for the care the nursing facility has provided to the individual, the individual or the individual’s sponsor requests a hearing on the proposed transfer or discharge in accordance with section 3721.161 of the Revised Code, and the transfer or discharge is upheld by a final determination that is not subject to further appeal.

(3) An institutionalized individual may be granted a waiver of all of the period of ineligibility if all of the assets that were disposed of for less than fair market value are returned to the individual or individual’s spouse or if the individual or individual’s spouse receives cash or other personal or real property that equals the difference between what the individual or individual’s spouse received for the assets and the fair market value of the assets. Except as provided in division (C)(1) or (2) of this section, no waiver of any part of the period of ineligibility shall be granted if the amount the individual or individual’s spouse receives is less than the difference between what the individual or individual’s spouse received for the assets and the fair market value of the assets.

(4) Waivers shall be granted in accordance with rules adopted under section 5163.02 of the Revised Code.

(D) To secure compliance with this section, the medicaid director may require an individual, as a condition of initial or continued eligibility for medicaid, to provide documentation of the individual’s assets up to five years before the date the individual becomes an institutionalized individual if the individual is eligible for medicaid on that date or the date the individual applies for medicaid while an institutionalized individual. Documentation may include tax returns, records from financial institutions, and real property records.