Institutionalized. Sounds kind of scary, right? Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as you think. When we’re talking about Medicaid planning, saying someone is the institutionalized spouse really only means that they are the nursing home resident, the person who needs Medicaid coverage. They are in a Medicaid Institution.

Obviously, in order to be called the institutionalized spouse, the person seeking Medicaid coverage must be married. One or both spouses can be institutionalized. If only one spouse is in a facility, however, they have a different title – the subject of our next post(the community spouse).

A married person becomes the institutionalized spouse when they first enter a medical facility. In Iowa, goes up to the first day of any hospital stay as long as that hospital stay ends with the patient being discharged into a skilled care facility or nursing home.

If there is a community spouse involved, however, being institutionalized is not the end of the world for your financial legacy.  The community spouse has some super powers that allows for your financial legacy to be preserved for your loved ones.

Call our office at (712) 737-3885 to find out how we can reduce or even eliminate the financial stress that comes with a looming institutionalization.