This is just hitting me and it is very easy to miss so thought I'd pop it to the top again. I'm in Missouri and they can use asset recovery for non long term care costs, including comitant (or whatever that word was) costs.
Also, I don't think anyone is complaining about the recapture or being disingenuous, they just want to understand it and make it part of their decision making. From what I've seen I think I'll be going for the subsidized ACA and avoid the recapture possibilities.
What I do find disingenuous though is how I got signed up for medicaid in the first place. I went to the ACA site to try to sign up for a plan after my COBRA ran out. The site wouldn't let me sign up and said something about needing to check with Missouri first to see if I qualified for medicaid. Figuring I wouldn't qualify, and that this was the only way I'd get an ACA plan I said ok, go ahead and check. Then two months later I get a mailing saying I was on Medicaid, just like that. And no mention anywhere of the estate recovery angle, unless it was somewhere in the fine print. This should be front and center for anyone BEFORE they are signed up for medicaid.