In an effort to spend down can I go back the 3 yrs mom has been living with us to charge for care, room & board?

I’m in agreement with JoAnn that the SW is wrong.
Billing for rent and expenses 3 years past and Paid to you now won’t make it past Medicaid for approval. You would have needed paperwork done back in 2015 to establish terms & what payments were for and notarized.

A big check to you now, will be likely viewed as gifting, and that imo totally changes how your mom’s Medicaid application gets reviewed. It’s red flagged. The thought is..... if you did gifting once, then likely there were others. Medicaid could ask for 5 years of all her finances.

Mom could do a rental agreement starting this month to you. But you may want to instead think about About a “personal care agreement” between you & her. Your best having an elder law atty draw this up for you. It could pay you way more than what just “rent” would be. All above board with taxes, fica done.

I think the SW is wrong. I am pretty sure Medicaid will not allow this. A number of members say the best thing is Mom should have put in writing how much she would pay you rent and notarize it. Medicaid may have honored that but to do it now, after the fact. . .You need to talk to a Medicaid caseworker. If Mom has enough to private pay for a month or so then do that. File so Medicaid will take over when the money runs out. With my Mom I paid 2 months totaling $18.600. That brought her below the 2k allowed. Medicaid took over the 3rd month.