Reports on the `asset transfer,' in which attorneys help middle- and upper-income elderly people hide their wealth so that their nursing home care will be paid for with Medicaid funds. Spend-down trap; Legality of asset transfer; `Avoiding the Medicaid Trap' by Armond D. Budish; Providers and consumers; American Association of Homes for the Aged; American Association of Retired Persons; Middle class entitlement; States' attempt at reforms.