How soon can you apply for Medicaid if you know that there are assets to be spent down?

Medicaid is a joint Federal and State program. If you go to the federal Medicare/Medicaid.gov site they will show you how to contact your state.
Your state will have an office and you can request a medicaid counselor to ask questions of, and this is a very valid question.
You can also consult and elder law attorney with request for an hour of time, take in a list of questions such as this, and request answers. They may then "claim" they need to research this and will charge you a few hours of time, but this is paid for by your POA if you wish to do it this way.

Best of luck out to you.

You really need to talk to a Medicaid caseworker. Each state is responsible for their Medicaid program. Because the federal government is involved there is basic criteria but States have leeways. It has been mentioned on the forum that some states require spend down before the person applies for Medicaid. Not so in my State.

The best way to spend down is to place the person in a facility that takes Medicaid paying privately. My Mom had 20k. I started her application in mid April. She was placed May 1st and paid privately May and June. I was given a list of info I had to provide the biggest 5 yrs of bank statements. In June I proved Mom was spent down under the 2k allowed. I confirmed with the caseworker that all info needed was received. The application was then put thru and Medicaid started July 1.

My state allows 90 days from application to spend down, provide info needed and find a placement. If you place the person and pay privately, the SW at the facility should be able to help you in when its a good time to apply. But keep on top of them if they help u with the application. You only have a certain time to get info to Medicaid.

Me, I dealt with Medicaid directly. All info, except for bank statements, was emailed and confirmed received. The only letter I got from Medicaid was the one telling me Mom had been excepted. As I said, I was given a list of documents I needed to provide. As long as you provide these documents in a timely manner, there should be no correspondence between u and the caseworker.

In my state (MN) in my experience it takes 3 months from when you submit the application and all the "proofs" required. Sometimes Medicaid will contact you by letter right away to ask for more or different proofs so make sure you open your mail every day (and have access to the LO's mail). Unless they've changed things since 2016, everything is done by snail mail.

You can go to your person's state and county website for Medicaid and find out all the info you need, or call them. Or, you can consult with a Medicaid Planner for the applicant's home state, since rules can differ by state and maybe even county.