Any money she contributed that was actually used to pay household bills of the house in which she was living at the time are not gifts to you, since they are transfers for consideration (i.e., she got something in return for the money).
Medicaid will examine her bank accounts going back at least 6 months, in some states up to 5 years back! If they question the transfers, you will have to explain that the payments were for household bills as you stated above. Then they should be ignored by the state.
If she has more than $2,000 in the bank at the time she applies, then the Medicaid caseworker will deny your mother from Medicaid eligibility until that sum is down below $2,000. That can require you to re-apply when that situation is met.
You should pre-pay your mother’s funeral and burial, possibly purchase a car in her name that you can use to drive her around, buy a big-screen TV for her use, etc. I discuss a number of other options in my book, about how to sensibly “spend down” assets so as to qualify for Medicaid.
