Mississippi reviews the five years before a Medicaid application to check whether assets were transferred with the intent of qualifying for benefits. DOM's 2026 long-term-care guide describes this as a five-year look-back, while its eligibility page frames the same rule as a 60-month review — the two descriptions point to the same window, and both cover assets moved into a trust as well as outright transfers. This is a Medicaid eligibility test, not a gift-tax calculation, and it doesn't treat every family payment identically (DOM 2026 nursing-facility and HCBS guide; DOM eligibility page).
A transfer that fails this review triggers a penalty: for a nursing-facility applicant, Medicaid simply won't pay the facility for care during the penalty period, and for someone applying through an HCBS waiver, DOM says the person becomes ineligible for Medicaid for the duration of that same penalty. That makes the transfer date, proof of the asset's value, whatever compensation was actually received, who received the asset, and exactly what legal interest changed hands into central facts rather than paperwork afterthoughts (DOM 2026 nursing-facility and HCBS guide).
Mississippi's 2026 figures include a published transfer-penalty divisor of $9,430 per month, or $309 per day, which is used to convert an improperly transferred dollar amount into a corresponding penalty period.