What happens to your IRA if you go into a nursing home and you are on Medicaid?

What happens to your IRA if you go into a nursing home and you are on Medicaid?

Attorney Tom Olsen: Here's a text from somebody and they're saying that they got a substantial IRA retirement account and not much else, so not unusual for people. They want to know what would happen to their IRA retirement account if they had to go into a nursing home?

Attorney Robert Hidock: Well, the good part about it is that an IRA is not a countable asset for Medicaid, so the asset becomes protected. The caveat to that, though, is the required minimum distribution every year could be considered income and go to the nursing home, depending on if and when they take it. I would ask that they would call me on my direct line at 321-207-8493, because we also have a strategy of when people should take their RMDs if a Medicaid situation should arise.

Attorney Tom Olsen: What we're saying is that if the government's going to pay for somebody's nursing home, round numbers, $10,000 a month, in return for the government paying for the nursing home, the government is going to take their monthly Social Security check. They may take their pension or retirement from the Air Force check. They may take their required minimum distribution from their IRAs as well.

Attorney Robert Hidock: They could.

Attorney Tom Olsen: All that's going to be less than $10,000. Otherwise, you wouldn't be on Medicaid.

Attorney Robert Hidock: Absolutely. If there's a married couple, there's a good possibility that we can be diverting some of the person who's going into the nursing home's income back to their spouse because the state of Florida doesn't want their healthy spouse to be impoverished.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Very nice. Even with that some of the requirement of RMD might go to the spouse instead.

Attorney Robert Hidock: Absolutely.