Long Term Care • LTC Partnership Program • Inflation Protection Rules • Asset Protection • Agent Training
Chapter 4 covers the LTC Partnership Program, which was expanded nationally by the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2006. Partnership programs encourage consumers to buy private LTC insurance by providing Medicaid asset protection equal to the benefits paid by the policy. To implement a partnership program, a state must amend its Medicaid eligibility rules to exempt assets equal to benefits paid.
Partnership-qualified (PQ) policies must be tax-qualified under HIPAA and include inflation protection. The DRA requires automatic (compound) inflation protection for applicants age 60 or younger; applicants ages 61–75 must have some form of inflation protection; applicants 76 or older must be offered it but are not required to purchase it. The main distinguishing feature between PQ and non-PQ policies is inflation protection. Agents must complete 8 hours of initial LTC training (including Partnership training) and 4 hours each subsequent compliance period. Post-claims underwriting — accepting applications without adequate health history information in order to deny claims later — is prohibited by the NAIC Model Act.