---
title: "Wisconsin Medicaid Look-Back Period | Funding LTC Marketplace"
url: https://fundingltcmarketplace.com/states/wisconsin/medicaid-look-back-period/
description: "Wisconsin reviews five years of transfers and calculates a 2026 penalty in days using a $352.06 average daily private-pay nursing-home rate."
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.
---
Wisconsin · Look-Back & Penalties

# Wisconsin Medicaid Look-Back Period

Last updated 2026-10-20

**Quick answer:** Wisconsin Medicaid reviews transfers of nonexempt income or assets made in the 60 months (5 years) before the application month. The 2026 penalty divisor is $352.06 a day, the average daily private-pay nursing home cost.

Wisconsin's Medicaid Eligibility Handbook sets the look-back at 60 months — five years — counting back from the application month. Any transfer of nonexempt income or assets inside that window has to be evaluated for a possible penalty; transfers that happened before the 60-month window opened aren't subject to divestment rules at all.

The "application month" itself isn't a fixed calendar date — it shifts depending on the program. For Institutional Medicaid, it's the first month someone is institutionalized and has applied for health care. For Community Waivers, it's the first month the person is functionally eligible, has requested Family Care, Family Care Partnership, PACE, or IRIS, and is otherwise eligible. Wisconsin's 2026 penalty math runs on a $352.06 average daily private-pay nursing-home rate, which converts an improper transfer into a specific number of ineligible days rather than a flat dollar penalty.

## Wisconsin figures

- Look-back period: 60 months
- 2026 penalty divisor: $352.06/day

## Sources and official resources

- [Wisconsin DHS: Consumer Guide, Long-Term Care Insurance](https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/guide/insltc.htm)
- [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 Wisconsin guide](https://fundingltcmarketplace.com/states/wisconsin/)