Modest Universal Transfers

We also briefly talked about Modest Universal Transfers in class.

I'm still confused on this, as it seemed that a universal transfer could be the dispersement of your wealth to your heirs prior to your death, as a means of "spending down" to qualify for Medicaid. Technically, I think this is a transfer, but I found some economics-based definitions of "transfer payments" to be helpful:

Transfer Payments definitions:

The Congressional Budget Office:
Payments made to a person or organization for which no current or future goods or services are required in return. Federal transfer payments include Social Security and unemployment benefits.

In this context, "transfer payments" definitely relates to spending down on a micro level. It doesn't account for the "modest universal" part of the term I'm trying to understand though... does Social Security count as this?

World Bank:
Payments from the government to individuals used to redistribute a country's wealth. Examples are pensions, welfare, and unemployment benefits.