Pennsylvania Long
Term Care Partnership
In July 2007, Governor Ed Rendell
signed into law Act 40 which established the
Pennsylvania Long Term Care Partnership
Program. The Partnership is a joint effort by
State Government and Private Industry to create
a program that enables Pennsylvanians to meet
their future long term care needs without
impoverishing themselves to pay for care. More
than 200,000 senior Pennsylvanians are enrolled
in the State's medical assistance program known
as Medicaid. However, Medicaid will pay for
your Long Term Care needs only when your assets
and resources (excluding your home and car) are
less than $2,400. If you do not have private
insurance, you will then have to pay for your
expenses out-of-pocket and spend-down to
Medicaid’s asset limit in order to qualify.
The Pennsylvania Long Term Care Partnership
is a partnership program between private
insurance companies and the State, through
Pennsylvania Insurance Department. The program
aims to address the increasing demands of long
term care while relieving the growing financial
burden on Medicaid. Studies reveal that total
Medicaid spending for fiscal year 2007 has
amounted to almost $16 billion, where 40.2% of
the total spending was devoted to long term
care, mainly for nursing home care expenses
(almost $4 billion). Click to Download FREE
E-Book (Details
Below)
Pennsylvania Long Term Care
Partnership Policies
Policies that meet the
requirements of the Partnership program are
called Partnership policies and provide a
unique feature called dollar-for-dollar asset
protection. This provides the policyholder an
asset protection equal to the insurance
benefits paid by the policy. Therefore, if the
policyholder received $200,000 of insurance
benefits and still need long term care, he is
entitled to keep $200,000 in assets beyond the
limit of Medicaid. This means that residents of
Pennsylvania may continue to receive care
through the Medicaid program without being
required to spend down their assets, after
depleting the benefits of qualified private
insurance policies.
1. It's Approved by the State -
Partnership policies are sold by the Major
insurance carriers but approved by the
state of Pennsylvania if they meet certain
consumer protection standards.
2. The Risk
of Needing Care Is High - According to the
Federal Government, "at least 70 percent or
people over age 65 will require some Long
Term care services at some point in their
lives". And contrary to what many people
believe Medicare and private health
insurance programs do not pay for the
majority of Long Term Care
services.
3. The Cost
of Care is Expensive - According to AARP,
the average cost of care for a private
nursing home room in Pennsylvania is over
$85,0000 a year. Home Care can be just as
expensive as well, depending on the
services required.
4. It
Provides Medicaid Asset Protection -
Partnership policies allow you to protect
assess equal to what your policy has paid
in benefits. Only State Approved
Partnership Policies provide Medicaid Asset
Protection.
Click Here to download a
FREE e-book about the Pennsylvania Long Term
Care Partnership
Program.
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