You sound as if you think you’d be slipping something past the authorities. Not so. Consider how the details of Medicaid eligibility, as determined by state and federal laws, have been adjusted over the years. When you spend down your assets, transfer them or place them in a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust within the five-year look-back period, you generally trigger a penalty period that must elapse before you qualify for Medicaid benefits. There are complicating details, and it’s notable that a few states have a shorter look-back period for certain Medicaid services. New York, for example, plans to adopt a 30-month look-back period for at-home long-term care (it currently has none), while residents of California can now qualify for the state’s Medicaid program without any asset limits. These are specific policy decisions that legislators make; the point is that the estate planning your husband is contemplating is commonplace and accounted for in the way the system is funding.