I believe that his estate is required to pay any outstanding debts before the balance can be distributed to his heirs.
Correct-a-mundo. That’s why proper planning is required before boarding the Medicaid train.
Maybe other states are different, but here there is a legal requirement of notice to debtors, requiring that those debtors respond within a set period of time, after which point any debt remaining becomes uncollectable, as the legal entity that was the estate of the deceased no longer exists.