A DAUGHTER said her family home would be taken from her after her mother’s death.
Ellen McCauley said Medicaid placed a lien on her late mother’s property in Syracuse, New York.
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McCauley explained that her mother became ill in 2019, so the family began planning for her care.
Her great-niece moved in with her two children to take care of her.
McCauley said he also enlisted the help of a local healthcare company called Nascentia Health for extra assistance, according to the NBC affiliate. WSTM-TV.
“We saw those commercials: ‘Hey… for free you can get help at home. Pay your loved ones,’” she said.
“So we said let’s do it!
“So we signed her up with a local company, my niece was making minimum wage, never more than $10,000 a year, and we didn’t even realize this local company was making $4,000 to $5,000 a month.”
McCauley said the company called occasionally to check on her mother, but added that her great-niece did the daily care work.
The daughter said she received a shock after her mother died in January 2023.
“It wasn’t until my mother died that we got a letter from Medicaid saying they put a $202,000 lien on this house in West Onondaga,” she said.
McCauley said that amount was to collect the money Medicaid spent on her mother’s care.
The daughter questioned how this move could cover her costs, as another house on her road was reportedly sold for around $70,000.
Local attorney Anthony Copani explained how this situation could have happened, according to WSTM-TV.
It wasn’t until my mother died that we got a letter from Medicaid saying they had placed a $202,000 lien on this house in West Onondaga.”
Ellen McCauley
“They’re not going to file a lien against the house while the person is living there,” he said.
“But when she died, they were able to go back ten years, add up all the money they paid, and then put a lien on the house at that time.”
McCauley explained how this news affected his family.
“We knew her greatest desire was for this house to be our inheritance, my sister Mae and I,” she said.
She recalled the memories she had of the house and the month.
“I think about how the Christmas tree was always there and how the children grew up and now have children of their own,” she recalled.
We knew her greatest desire was for this house to be our inheritance, my sister Mae and I.”
Ellen McCauley
“I think about playing games around the table and how much we laughed.”
The US Sun has reached out to Medicaid and Nascentia Health for comment.
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