How long term care partnership programs protect your assets!
The long term care partnership program is designed to encourage people to take personal responsibility for their future long term care by purchasing special long-term care insurance. The program is designed to reduce Medicaid costs for nursing home care. In addition, it encourages citizens to purchase long term care insurance in order to protect some or all of their assets.
Partnership programs provide exemptions from the Medicaid spend down requirements. In other words, long term care partnership programs provide dollar-for-dollar asset protection. For every dollar that a long term care partnership policy pays in benefits, a dollar of assets is protected from Medicaid spend down requirements. For example, if your long term care partnership policy paid $200,000 in benefits, then $200,000 of your assets would be exempted from Medicaid spend down requirements.
The long term care partnership insurance policy does not have to be exhausted before asset protection is allowed.
Long term care partnership policies are similar to traditional long term care insurance policies. The difference is that they must include special consumer protection features. One of the most important consumer protection features of long term care partnership policies is inflation protection.
Without a long term care partnership program, you’d have to spend your assets down to the state-required minimums before Medicaid will pay for your care. With a long term care partnership program, the state will allow you to keep the minimum amounts plus an amount equal to whatever your long term care partnership policy paid in benefits.
Not only are your assets protected from Medicaid spend-down while you are alive, your assets are even protected from estate recovery after you pass away.
For information specific to your state, please click on your state in the map below.