Virginia’s new Long-Term Care Insurance Partnership Program, effective September 1, 2007, will allow consumers to obtain Long-Term Care Insurance as part of a Medicaid Asset Protection Plan. Virginia’s Partnership Program allows individuals obtaining Partnership-qualified policies to protect assets that otherwise might have to be paid for long-term care prior to obtaining eligibility for Medicaid benefits. A Partnership-qualified policy enables policyholders to protect one dollar of personal assets for every insurance dollar the policy pays out in benefits.
One of the main purposes of this new Long-Term Care Insurance Partnership Program is to offer government-endorsed “Medicaid Asset Protection” to consumers who buy long-term care insurance, enabling these consumers to protect personal assets and obtain eligibility for Medicaid coverage of Long-term care services. The amount of assets protected with a Partnership-qualified policy will be equal to the sum of all benefits paid under the Partnership-qualified policy prior to the time the applicant applies 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.
This new “Medicaid Asset Protection” program promoted by the federal and state governments represents a tremendous shift in policy by the government, away from the old philosophy that thought of Medicaid as a “welfare” program for people who were “impoverished” and toward the reality that individuals may be entitled to Medicaid even if they still own significant assets, provided that those assets have been properly and legally protected under the law – something that Elder Law Attorneys have been helping clients do for decades.
This new program provides an additional method of Medicaid Asset Protection for Virginia residents. However, in addition to protecting assets under the Long-Term Care Partnership program and the basic allowances that a client and a client’s spouse may keep under the Medicaid program, there are numerous other methods by which clients can protect significant assets and still qualify for Medicaid.
Click here for more information about Virginia’s new Partnerhsip Program and my answers to many Frequently Asked Questions.
About Evan H Farr, CELA, CAP
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