On May 3rd, 2018, Governor Nathan Deal signed into law SB 370. Under SB 370, which was passed by both chambers of the legislature, the first $25,000 of any Medicaid recipient’s estate is exempted from collection as part of the State’s Medicaid recovery process. Under the current recovery scheme, only those estates valued at less than $25,000 qualified for an unreasonable/substantial hardship exemption and were not subject to collection by the state Department of Community Health. However, all recipient’s estates valued over $25,000 were automatically subject to recovery, and could be completely wiped out by the recipient’s outstanding Medicaid bills. Pursuant to SB 370, the State is now attempting to correct this inequity, and allow all estates to be treated equally. The bill is still subject to final approval by the U.S. Dept. Of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and requires the Dept. of Community Health to submit a request for such approval no later than July 1, 2018.