The irony of Barb Lewis’ situation is that if she wasn’t so poor, she wouldn’t risk losing what little she has.
The Iowa City woman, who is among the 13 percent of Iowans who live in poverty, discovered this year that our state is more aggressive than most in trying to recover after death any money spent on health care costs.
Here, your house, car and any cash you’ve managed to hold onto can be seized from your estate by the government to pay for the cost of any care paid by Medicaid.
Lewis, a disabled mother of two daughters, said that wasn’t clear to her until after she paged through a booklet sent this spring by AmeriHealth Caritas, one of the three private providers who now manage Medicaid for the state.
At stake for her is a modest condo she would like to leave to her kids and whatever money she has after she dies.
Source: Reader: Iowa pushes to the limit what it can recover from Medicaid beneficiaries DES MOINES REGISTER