A 57 year old is trying to qualify for Medicaid. In order to do that, she must begin taking life expectancy distributions from her IRA. Otherwise the IRA is considered an asset that would preclude her from receiving Medicaid benefits.

The problem we're running into is that Medicaid says the distributions must be calculated using their table, which is not one of the tables that can be used under 72(t) to avoid the 10% early distribution penalty. So it's looking like the 10% penalty can't be avoided.

Has anyone run into a similar situation, and was there a way to resolve it (short of applying for a private letter ruling)?

Interesting question.

Do you have access to the table Medicaid wants you to use? Can you get it under FOIA? If so, please publish your findings for others to review.

Your direct question also deserves either an ERISA attorney, a letter to your congressional representative, or you could ask ASPPA or another DC based lobbying organization such as AARP to investigate.

We've been told that we can contact our County Attorney, who, in turn, can instruct our local Medicaid office to accept the IRS table. Let's see if that works.