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Medical care for an elderly individual can have major financial implications for both spouses in a marriage. While Medicaid exists to help pay for long-term care, you may wish to know if your Medicaid plan can support your partner back at home.

Determining Medicaid eligibility in Florida entails a five-year lookback period, so you may wish to think about how to financially protect your spouse today.

Medicaid protects your spouse from impoverishment

Long-term care in a nursing home or similar institution comes with a cost. The monthly expense can deplete the savings that your spouse at home requires to maintain a livable quality of life. Medicaid provides spousal impoverishment provisions that protect a certain amount of resources for the sake of your healthy partner. In this way, Medicaid can help alleviate worries that one individual in your marriage will suffer financially because of the costs of necessary health care.

Proper planning will help you keep other assets

Applying for Medicaid may seem like the best solution for funding your long-term care. However, the combined value of your income and current assets will affect your eligibility for Medicaid. While this may suggest that you need to sacrifice some of your belongings to receive Medicaid, strategic redistribution will help you keep your assets. Planning for Medicaid as early as possible helps ensure that one spouse will have continued access to assets in the event that the other enters into long-term institutional care.

Navigating the complexities of Medicaid can be burdensome for couples with financial concerns. A Medicaid planning attorney can help you understand your eligibility and options going forward.