New Hampshire Medicaid Look-Back Period

Quick answer: New Hampshire Medicaid reviews asset transfers made in the 60 months (5 years) before an application for nursing facility Medicaid or an HCBS waiver. Below-market sales, deed changes and trust transactions can all be reviewed, not just gifts.

New Hampshire's long-term-care Medicaid program looks back 60 months — five years — at relevant asset transfers before someone applies for nursing-facility Medicaid or an HCBS waiver. The state's own long-term-services checklist specifically instructs applicants to verify assets and resources going back that full 60-month window.

It's not just about whether cash was gifted outright. New Hampshire's rules, found under He-W 620, address any transfer that reduces or eliminates a person's ownership or control over an asset, as well as instruments designed to transfer title at a future date. That means a below-market sale, a deed change, or a trust transaction can all trigger their own separate review — it's a broader net than a simple gift-tax mental model would suggest.

Because state-specific divisor figures (used to calculate penalty periods) change and need to be confirmed against current guidance, anyone facing a transfer question should verify the applicable number before assuming an older figure still holds.