subject: Long Term Care Partnership Programs – How do They Work [print this page] Long Term Care Partnership Programs How do They Work
A long term care partnership program is a between a state government, the private insurance companies selling LTCi within this state, and state residents who buy LTC partnership policies. This partnership aims to facilitate the purchase of shorter term more comprehensive LTCi consequential by relating them to exact policies by Medicaid for those who still need care.
These partnership policies should be approved by the state to meet the specific requirements of the program. The state insurance departments are the ones responsible in certifying that people who sell partnership policies are well-trained and fully understand show these policies include coverage options both public and private.
Qualified partnership policy must meet specific requirements which may slightly vary from state to state. Most states require Partnership policies to provide full benefits, tax qualified, offering consumer protection specialist, and include specific rules for the protection of the state of inflation. Sometimes, the only difference between a qualified partnership policy and other LTCi policies sold in a personal statement is the amount and type of protection against inflation required by the state.
Now, how do these partnership policies work? A qualified partnership policy gives you, as purchaser, with the right to request under Medicaid eligibility rules change to include a special feature called asset disregard'. This permits you to retain assets that would otherwise not be allowed if you need to apply and qualify for Medicaid to receive other long-term care. What Medicaid will disregard is the amount you actually receive benefits under your Partnership Qualified LTC Policy. Because these policies should include protection against inflation, the size of the benefits you receive may be higher than the amount of insurance coverage you obtained.
Partnership programs benefit both the policyholder and the state. For the policyholder, it allows them to obtain and pay for the services they need without having to spend all of their assets. While for the state, it can decrease the amount of dollars available for Medicaid used in long term care services.
However, prior to jumping to all these partnership programs, it is a must that you determine first if it is a Partnership qualified policy or not. A qualified partnership policy is one that is certified by the state, and must include the level of hedging against inflation provided by the state. Only if you have a Partnership policy, you will be eligible for an asset disregard when you apply for Medicaid.
And lastly, states that have partnership programs are believed to have "reciprocity" with each other and to credit the asset disregard you received underneath the Partnership policy you purchased in a different state. However, States can "opt out" of this obligation whichever occasion.
