In the US, gifting it directly while living counts as taxable income but a huge amount can be inherited tax free. Also, gifting it shortly before taking advantage of benefits that require spending all your money first may consider gifting as fraud.

It is a stupid system.

If you have good planning skills, then you realize you can't predict the future, only plan for multiple routes. My parents have no intention of dying soon. The longer they live, the greater the chance of needing to pay for care for both declining health and incidental injuries. Will they end up in assisted living? Or will a fluke kill them just before admittance? Say they budget perfectly for 10 years of assisted living, give me the surplus, and dimentia kicks in to the point they need full nursing home care. What do I do, liquidate whatever I've used the funds for to return it to them? That's trusting I even have enough cash and equity to convert.

So yes, they can do things now, but responsible planning in my country doesn't involve going broke at 80. You may think something like "euthanize me before the home" but that concept is more fun when it's decades away. I've watched dimentia, alzheimers, and neuropathy bring decline and have said the same. I bet you when I get up there, I won't feel like I'm done here. That's what leads people to think they're better off dead. They won't commit suicide, but a death caused by something outside of their control? Well, they can't control that.