When someone is in a facility - hospital, nursing home, etc- they can get emergency medicaid. For this to be approved, they do a 'look back' at bank statements for 3 years.
When someone from the outside applies for Medicaid, the look back is only one month's bank statement.
This is important when helping elderly parents / grand parents navigate the health care system and they may need a nursing home even temporarily.
At least some of that is untrue - in regards to Nursing Home Medicaid, Emergency Medicaid does not cover this AT ALL. And when you do apply for nursing home medicaid, they look back 5 years.
The only exception to this is if you need a stay for less than 29 days. Also, if you have a Medicaid managed care plan, different rules MAY apply, depending on the situation.
In contrast, regular medicaid in a hospital, or in the community looks back one month at most - for under 65 (if you're not disabled or blind), I don't think they look at your assets at all.
I've been involved in nursing home medicaid for several years, so that's one area I'm very familiar with.