When my mother had to go to a nursing home, I filled out a Medicaid application for her because I knew her assets wouldn’t last. On the NY Medicaid for nursing home care application, it actually listed about 20 pages of documentation I needed to provide.... Unless the applicant was an illegal alien and then no documentation was necessary, they just need check the box undocumented but could still get benefits!
You should have said she was illegal. She came over from Italy years ago on a visa that expired and never went back.