Medicaid recovery is the government suing your estate after you have passed. In other words, the patient qualified for Medicaid, Medicaid paid the bills, but then Medicaid sues your estate to get paid back. For example, a homestead is not counted and you can qualify for Medicaid with a valuable house, but when that house is sold by your estate, Medicaid has to be paid back. not a great deal.
To really protect that homestead and many other assets, you need to plan, preferably long before you are looking at needing long-term care. A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust can protect your assets.