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Medicaid look-back and penalty period calculator

Medicaid reviews gifts and other transfers for less than fair market value made in the five years before you apply for long-term care coverage. This calculator shows the window, adds up the transfers inside it and estimates the penalty with the divisor you enter.

Your answers stay in this browser. Nothing you type is sent to Carevo.

1. Application date

The first date you are both in a nursing facility (or getting waiver services) and have applied for Medicaid. If you have not applied yet, use the date you plan to apply.

2. Transfers and gifts

Add each gift or sale below fair market value: date and the amount that was not paid back to you.

3. Your state's penalty divisor

The average monthly cost of nursing facility care your state uses to turn a transfer into penalty months. Ask your state Medicaid agency for the current figure.

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4. Date you would otherwise be eligible (optional)

When you would qualify for Medicaid care if there were no transfers. Leave blank to use the application date.

What this tool cannot do

  • Carevo cannot tell you whether a transfer will cause a penalty or whether you qualify. Your state Medicaid agency decides.
  • The penalty divisor is a state figure. This tool uses only the number you enter and does not supply one.
  • It does not apply the exceptions in federal and state law, such as transfers to a spouse, a transfer of the home to a qualifying child, sibling or caregiver child, or assets returned to you. Enter only transfers you believe are not exempt, or ask your state Medicaid agency.
  • It treats every amount you enter as an uncompensated transfer. It does not value assets, trusts, annuities or fair market value.
  • States differ on partial months and on how they count the penalty. The end date shown is approximate.
  • It is an estimate based on published rules, not advice.

Common questions

What is the Medicaid look-back period?

For Medicaid payment of nursing facility care or home and community based waiver services, the state looks at transfers of assets for less than fair market value made in the 60 months before the date you are both in care and have applied. A transfer inside that window can lead to a penalty period when Medicaid will not pay for those services.

How is the penalty period worked out?

Federal law divides the total uncompensated value of the transfers in the window by the average monthly private-pay cost of nursing facility care that your state uses. The result is the number of months of ineligibility. A state may not round down a fractional month.

Where do I find my state divisor?

The divisor is a state figure, so this tool does not fill it in. Ask your state Medicaid agency for the current transfer penalty divisor. It changes, and states use different amounts.

When does the penalty start?

For transfers made on or after February 8, 2006, the penalty starts on the first day of a month during or after which the transfer was made, or on the date you would otherwise be eligible and receiving care, whichever is later. That is why a transfer years ago can still start a penalty at the time you apply.

Do gifts to a spouse count?

Federal law lists exceptions. They include transfers to a spouse, transfers of a home to a spouse, a child under 21, a blind or disabled child, or in some cases a sibling or a caregiver child, certain trusts for a disabled person, transfers that are returned to you, and undue hardship. This calculator does not apply any exception. Ask your state Medicaid agency.

Where these rules come from

Sources checked October 27, 2026.