South Dakota reviews the standard five-year (60-month) window when it comes to uncompensated asset transfers for long-term care Medicaid. The state plan applies that review to nursing-facility care as well as to specified waiver, home-health, and personal-care services, and it treats a string of small below-market transfers made during the review period as one combined penalty period where the rules call for it.
The relevant question isn't whether a gift triggered a tax bill — it's whether an asset changed hands for less than its fair market value while the person applying is otherwise eligible for long-term care coverage. South Dakota's state plan starts counting the penalty period using its own transfer-timing rule, and it allows for partial-month penalties rather than rounding every case up to a full month.
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