Critter Corner: What is Partnership Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance?

• A Partnership-qualified policy enables policyholders to protect one dollar of personal assets for every dollar the policy pays out in benefits.
• The amount protected with a Partnership-qualified policy will be equal to the sum of all benefits paid under the Partnership-qualified policy when the applicant seeks to qualify for Medicaid.
• The total amount of assets that a policyholder may protect as a result of a Partnership-qualified policy is above and beyond the basic allowances that a client and a client’s spouse may keep under the Medicaid program.

When shopping for a long-term care insurance policy, it is crucial to consider carefully the entire financial situation of both spouses and to consider the alternative of not purchasing long-term care insurance, but using other forms of Medicaid asset protection. Failure to do so can result in purchasing too little coverage, which can actually be worse than purchasing no coverage at all. LTC  insurance can be used as part of a Medicaid Asset Protection Plan when it is used to cover the potential need for long-term care during the five-year lookback period.  Using this approach, you could purchase five years of long-term care insurance and, at the same time, transfer all of your assets into a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust. At the expiration of the five-year lookback period, you can simply stop paying the long-term care insurance premiums and allow the policy to lapse, knowing that Medicaid will be available to cover nursing home costs. Alternatively, the policy can be kept in force to cover 5 years of home health care, with the idea that Medicaid can then be used to cover additional time in the nursing home if necessary. Please read more on our Partnership Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance FAQs. If you need to do long-term care planning for yourself or your loved ones, please make an appointment at the Farr Law Firm for a no-cost consultation. Purrs, Saki and Alley