subject: Indianas Long Term Care Partnership Program [print this page] The Indiana Long Term Care Insurance Program (ILTCIP) is an innovative partnership between the State of Indiana and private long term care insurance companies. The state has taken the lead towards developing means for its residents in protecting assets against the rising costs of long term care.
Its Partnership program was created solely with the purpose of providing an incentive to residents with encouraging them to purchase long term care insurance to plan for their care needs in the future. And, the program is developed with a very unique feature termed as Medicaid Asset Protection.
This special feature provides financial protection for assets if an insured has to apply to Medicaid for long term care services. It is considered as a state-added benefit and does not add to the cost of the policy.
With Indianas Medicaid Asset Protection, a minimum of $1 of asset protection is earned for every $1 used under a Partnership policy. It allows individuals to protect all assets from the required Medicaid spend down if the person purchases a minimum amount of coverage as required by the state. It comes in two types namely, Total and Dollar-for-Dollar Protection.
Total asset protection means all of your assets will be disregarded during the Indiana Medicaid eligibility process, should you choose to apply for help from Indiana Medicaid.
While, Dollar-for-dollar asset protection, means that you will be allowed to retain one dollar of your assets for every one dollar of benefits used in your Partnership policy. However, any remaining assets will be considered during the Indiana Medicaid eligibility process.
However, the partnership program only protects assets, but not income. Thus, Medicaid considers the income the individual receives when determining eligibility for Medicaid benefits. The income includes interest and dividends whether taken directly or reinvested. It also includes social security benefits, pension payments, and minimum distributions from retirement accounts.
In terms of income tax benefits, the premium paid for a qualified policy is deductible on the Indiana tax return. And, another required provision policies must offer coverage with is inflation protection. The program requires the daily benefit as well as the policys maximum benefit to increase at a current compounded rate of 5% annually. This will provide some protection against future increases in the cost of care.
Moreover, the program also requires benefit triggers and definitions. The partnership policy may either be comprehensive, meaning provides payment for nursing home care and for services received while you remain at home, or long term care facility, provides benefits for institutional care only.
