Medicaid Estate Planning: Practices and Perceptions of Medicaid Workers, Elder Law Attorneys, and Certified Financial Planners

This study examined Medicaid estate planning (MEP) through the experiences and perceptions of three groups in Connecticut: Medicaid eligibility workers (n = 128), elder law attorneys (n = 41), and certified financial planners (n = 29). Respondent groups varied significantly with regard to their perceptions of prevalence and magnitude of MEP, the nature of transferred assets, mechanisms for transfers, and characteristics of the "typical" client participating in asset divestiture for the purpose of qualifying for Medicaid. This substantial lack of concordance among those professionals most closely involved with MEP poses challenges for policy and research in this area.