This new law stems from the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 that created the Qualified State Long Term Care Partnership program. Currently the program is available in only four states.
The program details are as follows:
Under the partnership programs, private companies sell long-term care insurance policies that have been approved by the state and meet certain standards, such as having inflation protection.
Once the long-term care insurance is depleted, individuals may qualify for Medicaid and keep assets equal to the amount of benefits received under the long-term care insurance policy.
Once the long-term care insurance is depleted, individuals may qualify for Medicaid and keep assets equal to the amount of benefits received under the long-term care insurance policy.
Normally, individuals will not qualify for Medicaid if they have more than $2,000 in assets. But under a partnership policy, a policyholder who had exhausted a long-term care insurance policy that had provided, say, $150,000 in benefits would be allowed to retain $152,000 in assets and still qualify for Medicaid coverage of long-term care.
The four states currently offering the partnership program are California, Connecticut, Indiana and New York. To date twenty-one other states “have enacted legislation to authorize plans under the new law including: Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington.
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