Medicaid, which is known in Massachusetts as MassHealth, is a joint federal-state program run by the state.  Many persons rely on Medicaid to cover the costs of their nursing home care.  

Medicaid planning is often done in advance to preserve assets in case of an eventual stay in a nursing home.  In those cases, gifts and irrevocable trusts are often part of the plan, but under current law it usually (but not always) takes 5 years before the assets are protected.  For unmarried persons, when a nursing home stay is in the very near future, Medicaid planning can still be done, but there is far less of an opportunity to preserve assets at the last minute except for the benefit of minor children, disabled children, caretaker children and certain siblings. 

For married persons, even after a nursing home stay has begun for one spouse, the possibility of Medicaid planning remains available, and there are several options to preserve assets for the at-home spouse.