http://www.infolongtermcare.org/federal-long-term-care-laws - Last 2005, then President George Bush made the Deficit Reduction Act one of the first new long term care laws that would make an impact on how insurance policies for LTC are made available in the country. Through this, Partnership Programs became available in all states in the U.S. which serves to decrease the financial constraints that Medicaid has been going through.
Through the Partnership Program, more and more Americans are enticed to plan their future through an insurance policy that covers long term care while also providing them with asset protection that lets them qualify for Medicaid without satisfying its stringent requirements. Previously, seniors can only get Medicaid once their total assets become less than $2,000 worth -- which means only the poor can qualify.
With a Partnership-qualified policy though, beneficiaries can still get Medicaid after they used up all the benefits of their policy. Their assets, up to a total worth that matches their total benefits, will be exempted in calculating whether they can qualify, so that they continue receiving the care that they need.
Since then, how has the Partnership Program affected the LTC insurance industry? Did more people actually purchase policies for the future long term care needs?
In 2006, the National Conference of State Legislature published their study, "A Guide to Long-term Care for State Policy Makers: The Long-term Care Partnership Program," which contains their findings on the long term care laws concerning this issue. As reported, there have been only less than 50,000 new policies after the program's implementation, which is low considering that there were currently 200,000 policies active before then.
The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability or OPPAGA reports that this was probably due to the lack of general awareness of long term care in the public mind. Planning for long term care and the availability of policies that can provide solutions is most notably lacking in several states. Usually, there is no information to be found on state government websites about the Partnership Program.
Moreover, policies are not exactly very affordable, especially to low-income families. The median annual premium in 2009 was $2,005, which is high for families that have difficulties in securing their monthly budgets between food, mortgage and other expenses.
It's obvious that more measures must be taken to make this Program, and long term care awareness in general, effective. Public education should be one of the most important issues that the government must tackle so that people are aware of the need and the programs that they are implementing to answer them. Adding new pages to government websites can be a start, which can explain why it's needed, and what they can get so they can really consider it. Furthermore, introducing better tax deductions that can give subsidies to buying an insurance policy may also help families be better able to accommodate the price of premiums in their budgets.
Long term care is very expensive later on, and many savings have already been rent asunder by it. Preparing for its costs through insurance policies, such as those provided by the Partnership Program, is really the best way to retire. However, more long term care laws need to be implemented for Americans to truly realize its impact in their lives.
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