---
title: "Michigan Medicaid Look-Back Period | Funding LTC Marketplace"
url: https://fundingltcmarketplace.com/states/michigan/medicaid-look-back-period/
description: "Michigan's 60-month divestment review, the 2026 $12,216 penalty divisor, and why an uncompensated transfer can delay LTC coverage."
last_updated: 2026-10-20
author: George A. Mellendorf, CLTC, LTCP (Central States Insurance Services, Inc.)
publisher: Funding LTC Marketplace
note: Educational content; not legal, tax or financial advice. Markdown copy of the HTML page at the URL above.
---
Michigan · Look-Back & Penalties

# Michigan Medicaid Look-Back Period

Last updated 2026-10-20

Michigan reviews the 60 months before an applicant's baseline date for disqualifying transfers, matching the federal five-year standard. Importantly, a transfer that trips this rule doesn't wipe out Medicaid eligibility altogether — it triggers a penalty period instead.

There's a subtle distinction worth knowing: federal guidance frames the look-back as 60 months before someone applies for Medicaid, while Michigan's own manual uses a baseline-date framework that isn't always identical to the application date. Anyone doing transfer planning in Michigan needs both the actual transaction dates and the specific Medicaid application and institutionalization facts to know where they stand.

For 2026, Michigan's divestment penalty divisor is $12,216 — the figure used to calculate how many months of ineligibility an uncompensated transfer creates.

## Michigan figures

- Look-back period: 60 months (5 years)
- 2026 penalty divisor: $12,216

## Sources and official resources

- [MDHHS: Nursing Facility Eligibility](https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/-/media/Project/Websites/mdhhs/Doing-Business-with-MDHHS/Forms-and-Applications/nursing_fac_elig_134653_7.pdf)
- [U.S. Code: 42 U.S.C. § 1396p (liens, estate recovery, transfers of assets, Partnership disregard)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1396p)

Rules and figures change. Confirm current details with the agency before you act.

[← Back to the full Michigan guide](https://fundingltcmarketplace.com/states/michigan/)