If they live in an expanded medicaid state, they would be eligible for medicaid if they had no income since assets don't count. If ACA sticks around there will be all sorts of financial planning going on to keep income low in order to get maximum subsidies and lowest deductibles.
“If they live in an expanded medicaid state, they would be eligible for medicaid if they had no income since assets don’t count.”
There has been considerable discussion of Medicaid eligibility on the early retirement forums as well. Most early retirees having financial assets or property investments won’t go on Medicaid because the government can take assets from the estate to repay Medicaid. They prefer subsidized Obamacare policies.