Long Term Care Insurance State Partnership Plans

History of the Long Term Care Insurance Partnership Plans

The first Long Term Care Insurance Partnership Program was created in the mid-1980s to encourage people who potentially would turn to their State Medicaid (Welfare) program to pay their actual Long Term Care (LTC) expenses to plan ahead and buy Long Term Care Insurance.  The program is aimed at those in middle-income ranges who may be on the fence about Long Term Care Insurance.  With a Partnership plan, which doesn't cost any different than a standard plan, there is an incentive created by the state.

If a person buys a qualified long term care Partnership Plan in an approved state, they may be entitled to keep a portion of their assets and still qualify for government assistance (financially speaking). 

Typically the State will match dollar for dollar what your Long Term Care Insurance policy has paid out.  For example, if your policy paid $200,000 in benefits, you could shelter $200,000 of your own money. 

Currently, these programs operate in most states.  More on that below.

Some Long Term Care Partnership Stats 

The "original four" LTC Partnership states were: California, Connecticut, Indiana, and New York.  Since these states have had programs for a while, we have some statistics to give you an actuarial idea of how likely one may be to exhaust a policy.  Hint: not as likely as you may think.

Source: Government Accountability Office, 2005.

Expansion of the Long Term Care Insurance Partnership Plan

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA 05) now allows all states to create Long Term Care Insurance Partnership Plans and most states have jumped on board or are in the process of designing the plans.

Partnership policies in these new programs must meet specified criteria, such as federal tax-qualification, identified consumer protections, and inflation protection provisions.

State Resources on Long Term Care Partnership

We've written about various states as they have come online over the years.  This is a work in progress list, so not all participating states may be listed.  Links that are in blue are states that we've written about before.

At LTCtree.com we keep up with the progress of each State's Long Term Care Partnership Plans and will be happy to help you sift through the government red-tape the best we can. 

There are some true advantages of having a Long Term Care Insurance Partnership plan in many cases, so to get your own quotes and comparisons, simply complete our form below.