A veteran with a VA disability rating of 70% or higher who needs nursing care pays nothing out of pocket at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown, Iowa's state veterans home., Most other Iowa Veterans Home residents pay a charge the home sets from each resident's own income and assets, so if a parent who served can't live safely at home anymore, it helps to know where your parent stands before you call.

In This Guide

The Iowa Veterans Home at a Glance

A State Veterans Home is owned, operated and managed by a state government, not by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, though VA must formally recognize and certify each State Veterans Home and then surveys it every year to make sure it still meets VA standards. Each state sets its own eligibility and admission rules for its State Veterans Homes.

In Iowa, that is the Iowa Veterans Home (IVH) in Marshalltown. Iowa Code section 35D.1 says the Iowa veterans home in Marshalltown shall be maintained as a long-term health care facility providing nursing and residential levels of care, and the National Association of State Veterans Homes (NASVH), a trade association, lists IVH as the State Veterans Home in Iowa.

Here is how the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs (IDVA) describes IVH:

  • Who runs it: IDVA manages the Iowa Veterans Home as one of its three operational areas and is itself headquartered at the Marshalltown home.
  • How long it has been there: The Iowa Veterans Home was founded in 1887 as the Iowa Soldiers Home.
  • How big it is: The Iowa Veterans Home sits on a campus of over 150 acres with five main resident care buildings and serves 400-plus residents with 900-plus staff and volunteers. IDVA calls IVH the fifth-largest state-owned nursing facility for veterans in the nation and the largest long-term care facility in Iowa.

The Iowa Veterans Home's street address is 1301 Summit St., Marshalltown, IA 50158.

Marshalltown may be a long drive from where your family lives, and that matters when you picture visiting every week. If Marshalltown is too far, our guide to VA nursing home care covers the nursing home options VA runs itself, and our national guide to State Veterans Homes shows how the program works in other states.

Residential or Nursing Care: Which Level Would Your Parent Need?

It helps to know, before the first phone call, which kind of help your parent needs day to day, because the home sorts residents into one of two levels. IDVA says each Iowa Veterans Home resident is assigned to a category of care based on their capabilities upon admission, and a committee decides each applicant's starting level and type of care.,

IDVA describes the two levels this way:

  • Residential care: for residents who need little help with daily activities and tend to their own needs except for meals, which IVH serves in a central dining room. Medical and nursing supervision at this level comes on a regular, but not continuous, basis.
  • Nursing care: for residents who need constant supervision or help with activities, ranging from full assistance with all needs to help with one or two. Medical care at this level is available on a frequent, but not continuous, basis.

Both IVH levels offer single and couples rooms, each with a private bathroom. The level can matter for money too, as When VA Pays for Nursing Care in Full explains.

Who Can Live at the Iowa Veterans Home?

IDVA says the Iowa Veterans Home provides its care exclusively for qualified Iowa veterans, their spouses, and Gold Star parents. That makes Iowa one of the states that opens its home to family members: VA says some State Veterans Homes admit non-veteran spouses and Gold Star parents while others admit only veterans. IDVA's application page matches, offering separate Veteran, Spouse and Gold Star Parent application packets.

IDVA's description doesn't spell out what "qualified" means. NASVH, a trade association rather than a government agency, publishes a test in its Iowa directory entry, which says the Iowa Veterans Home admits:

  • honorably discharged veterans who are eligible for hospitalization in VA hospitals or domiciliaries, who do not have sufficient means or ability to support themselves or are disabled by disease, wounds, old age or otherwise, and who are Iowa residents at the time of application;
  • dependent spouses and widowed spouses of those veterans.

Read NASVH's Iowa test with two limits in mind. NASVH states the test once for a home that runs two levels of care, so it isn't broken out for nursing care as against residential care, and it covers veterans and spouses but not the Gold Star parents IDVA names. If your mother is the one who needs care, or if your parents hope to move in together, call IVH Admissions about the level of care your family actually needs before you plan around a place. The Iowa Veterans Home's admission coordinator is at 800-645-4591 or 641-753-4325.

What Will the Iowa Veterans Home Cost Your Family?

This is often the question that keeps families up at night, and the answer is personal rather than a single price. IDVA says the Iowa Veterans Home determines the cost for care on an individualized basis dependent upon the incomes and assets available to each resident, up to IVH's calculated full daily rate. As a Medicaid facility, IVH follows current Medicaid guidelines when it decides which incomes and assets are available to pay toward care.

None of the IDVA pages behind this guide gives IVH's full daily rate in dollars, and IDVA sends cost questions to the IVH Admissions Department. So when you call, ask for the full daily rate at the level of care your parent needs and what your parent's own share would likely be.

Two IDVA rules shape that share. With staff help, Iowa Veterans Home residents are required to apply for every benefit they're eligible for, including Social Security, VA pension, private pension, Medicare Part B, Medicare Part D and Medicaid. Accurate and ongoing disclosure of all financial resources, including medical, long-term care and life insurance policies as well as incomes and assets, is a requirement for admission to the Iowa Veterans Home and for staying there. It can feel invasive to hand over every statement, but those records are what the home uses to set your parent's charge.

State law points the same way. Iowa Code section 35D.7 says that, except as otherwise provided in chapter 249A and elsewhere in chapter 35D, an Iowa Veterans Home member who receives a pension, compensation or gratuity from the U.S. government, or income from any source of more than one hundred forty dollars per month, shall contribute to the member's own maintenance or support. Section 35D.7 leaves the amount and the method of collection to the department, but says the contribution can never exceed the actual cost of keeping and maintaining the member in the home.

The charge buys a good deal of care. IDVA says Iowa Veterans Home clinical services come at no additional out-of-pocket expense when IVH staff or contracted professionals provide them, among them medical, nursing, dental, pharmaceutical, podiatry, optometry and audiology care, physical, speech and occupational therapy, and lab and x-ray. IVH also provides transportation to VA Medical Centers or other medical facilities for appointments and admissions IVH schedules.

How the bill splits depends on who the resident is:

Resident What VA pays the Iowa Veterans Home What the resident pays
Veteran who needs nursing care and either needs it for a service-connected disability, is rated 70% or higher, or has a TDIU rating Payment in full for the nursing care, under 38 U.S.C. 1745 and 38 CFR 51.41 Nothing for the nursing care VA paid for; the home may not bill the veteran for it (for a veteran rated 70% or higher who needs nursing care, IDVA says there is no out-of-pocket expense for IVH's care)
Any other eligible veteran, including a veteran rated 70% or higher who is in residential rather than nursing care VA's basic State home per diem: the lesser of half the daily cost of care or VA's basic per diem rate An individualized charge from income and assets, up to IVH's full daily rate
Spouse or Gold Star parent Nothing, because VA does not pay for the care of non-veterans An individualized charge from income and assets, up to IVH's full daily rate

A spouse or Gold Star parent at the Iowa Veterans Home faces the hardest math, since VA does not pay a State Veterans Home for the care of non-veterans. If Mom is the one moving in, ask Admissions for her likely charge first, and read our guide to Iowa Medicaid and nursing home care, since IVH follows Medicaid guidelines.

For a veteran, VA money may help with the share. VA's Aid and Attendance benefit is a monthly payment added to a VA pension, and IVH requires residents to apply for VA Pension if eligible. Our guide to Aid and Attendance for a nursing home in Iowa explains how that benefit works.

When VA Pays for Nursing Care in Full

For some veterans, the Iowa Veterans Home nursing bill is zero, and the rule behind that is federal. Under 38 U.S.C. 1745 and 38 CFR 51.41, VA's payment to a State Veterans Home is payment in full for the nursing home care of three groups of veterans:

  • a veteran who needs nursing home care for a VA adjudicated service-connected disability;
  • a veteran with a service-connected disability rated at 70 percent or more who needs nursing home care;
  • a veteran with a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) who needs nursing home care.

Under a State home care agreement, a State Veterans Home may not charge a veteran covered by 38 CFR 51.41 (a veteran who needs nursing home care and either needs it for a service-connected disability, is rated 70% or higher, or has a TDIU rating), an insurer or anyone else besides VA for the nursing home care VA paid for. The 38 CFR 51.41 payment-in-full rule covers nursing home care only, so a veteran rated 70% or higher who lives in the Iowa Veterans Home's residential care, not its nursing care, is not covered by that rule, and the Iowa Veterans Home sets that veteran's charge individually from income and assets.,

IDVA's Admissions page puts the 70% case in Iowa terms: a veteran rated 70% disabled or higher by VA and in need of nursing care has no out-of-pocket expense for the care and services the Iowa Veterans Home provides. Keep the veteran's current VA rating letter handy for the first call with Admissions.

How to Apply to the Iowa Veterans Home

The Iowa Veterans Home application runs through your county, and IDVA says filling out the forms properly helps avoid delays.

1
Step 1

Call Admissions

The Iowa Veterans Home admission coordinator is at 800-645-4591 or 641-753-4325, and the IVH switchboard is (641) 752-1501.

2
Step 2

Get the right packet

IDVA's Apply to IVH page offers a Veteran Application Packet, a Spouse Application Packet and a Gold Star Parent Application Packet, and IDVA says applications are also available at each county Commission of Veterans Affairs office and each VA Medical Center.

3
Step 3

Book the physical exam

An Iowa Veterans Home applicant needs a physical exam with lab and x-ray tests, verified on the IVH application by a local doctor or a VA Medical Center physician.

4
Step 4

Take it to your county

Send all paperwork to the County Veterans Affairs Office in the county where the applicant lives; the office can help you apply, and the county must confirm the applicant is a veteran living in Iowa before IVH moves forward.

5
Step 5

Wait for placement

An IVH committee decides the starting level and type of care, and if no bed is open in that area, the applicant's name goes on a waiting list.

NASVH's Iowa entry adds what to enclose: two copies of the honorable discharge or DD214, an income affidavit, and a physical examination completed on the application form by the applicant's physician. Tracking down the DD214 now will save a scramble later. To find the right county office, use IDVA's county veteran service office finder.

How Long Is the Wait?

Families often want a date, and the honest answer is that there isn't a fixed one. IDVA says the Iowa Veterans Home has no fixed or "required" waiting period: the time to admission depends on the level of clinical care IVH staff determine during the application process and on open space in a unit that serves that level, and wait times for different levels of care fluctuate.

IVH strongly suggests applying as soon as possible, even if the need for a move isn't immediate, and encourages families to call for a sense of current wait times. Applying early means the paperwork and IVH's evaluation happen on a calm week, not in the middle of a crisis.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Medicare pay for a long stay at the Iowa Veterans Home?

No. Medicare Part A covers skilled nursing facility care only on a short-term, post-acute basis and doesn't pay for long-term custodial care, so a long stay at the Iowa Veterans Home has to be paid another way.

Dad's VA disability claim is still pending. Should we wait to apply to the Iowa Veterans Home?

No, and keep pushing the claim. Under 38 CFR 51.41, when a veteran receives a retroactive service-connected rating that brings the veteran within VA's full nursing-home payment rules (a veteran who needs nursing home care and either needs it for a service-connected disability, is rated 70 percent or higher, or has TDIU), the State Veterans Home can request payment under its State home care agreement back to the rating's effective date or February 2, 2013, whichever is later. Ask IVH Admissions how a new rating would change your parent's charge.

Can Mom and Dad share a room at the Iowa Veterans Home?

IDVA says each Iowa Veterans Home resident is assigned a level of care based on that resident's own capabilities upon admission, so each spouse's level is set separately. If your parents need different levels, ask IVH Admissions how the home would place them before you plan on a shared room.

Learn More

VA BenefitsState Veterans Homes: Who Gets In, What It Costs, and How to ApplyState veterans homes are state-run, VA-certified care homes. See who gets in, how VA per diem and the 70% rating rule shape the cost, and find your state. VA BenefitsVA Benefits You Can Use for Senior Care in IowaA complete guide to VA senior care benefits in Iowa: home care, nursing homes, Aid and Attendance, the Iowa Veterans Home, and how to access them in 2026. VA BenefitsHow VA Aid and Attendance Helps Pay for a Nursing Home in IowaVA pension at the Aid and Attendance rate tops out at $29,093 a year, about $2,424 a month, toward Iowa nursing home costs. How to qualify and apply in 2026. VA BenefitsVA Nursing Homes and Community Living Centers: Who Qualifies and What the VA PaysVA community living centers, contracted nursing homes, and state veterans homes: who VA must cover, what the 70% rule means, 21 free days, and the daily copay. MedicaidIowa Medicaid and Nursing Home Care: Coverage, Costs, and EligibilityHow Iowa Medicaid nursing home coverage works in 2026: the income cap and Miller Trust, the asset limit, client participation, and estate recovery. VA BenefitsVA Long-Term Care Copays: What Families Pay and Who Pays NothingThe first 21 days are free. After that, the VA long-term care copay is up to $97 a day for a nursing home stay, and some veterans owe nothing. Who is exempt.

Find personalized help deciding whether the Iowa Veterans Home fits your family at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.

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