Free tool
Medicaid look back period calculator
This Medicaid look back period calculator works the 60-month window in both directions. Enter a planned application date to see how far back the state will examine transfers, or enter the date of a past gift to see exactly when it ages out of the window and stops affecting eligibility.
Why five years is the number that runs elder law
The 60-month look-back has been federal law since the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, and it turns timing into the whole game. A transfer made 61 months before the application is invisible; the same transfer made 59 months before is penalized in full. That cliff is why elder law attorneys push families to act while everyone is healthy, and why a trust funded well before care is needed protects completely while crisis transfers need careful modeling.
If a transfer does fall inside the window, the consequence is a period of ineligibility you can estimate with the transfer penalty calculator. And if the asset at stake is the family home in Florida, Texas, Michigan, Vermont, or West Virginia, a lady bird deed avoids the look-back entirely because it is not a completed gift. California is the one state where none of this currently applies: it eliminated its asset limit and look-back for most applications on January 1, 2024.
This calculator provides general date math for education, not legal advice. Some states measure the window to the day using their own procedures. Legal Fin is not a law firm.