ME Average daily benefit purchased: $ 138 per day.

Long term care provides support and services when you can’t care for yourself for an extended period of time. It ranges from simple assistance with activities of daily living (for example, getting dressed, bathing) in your own home, to highly skilled care in a nursing facility. Long-term care insurance is designed to pay some or all of the costs of assisted care when you can no longer take care of your needs on your own. Policy options may include care in a nursing home, assisted living facility, adult day care, or even in your own home.

There are a little over 1.3 million people who call the state of Maine their home. According to the US Census, over 200,000 of those residents are aged 65 or older. Without Long Term Care Insurance, this rising number of seniors in Pine Tree State will put increasing economic stress on families and the state. In 2011, the total Long Term Care Medicaid expenses alone (not counting additional, private Long Term Care expenses) in Maine were close to $720 million.

When planning for retirement, Long Term Care Insurance is a key component for securing one’s financial future. Thankfully, Mainers have the choice of around 17 great Long Term Care Insurance companies that can help protect their savings in the event they need Long Term Care services.

The Maine Long Term Care Insurance Partnership Program was established in 2009. Under this Program, a policyholder in the state of Maine will be able to keep personal assets equal to the amount paid out under their long-term care policy and still be considered eligible for Medicaid assistance if they ever needed it. For example, if a qualifying insurance policy pays out $50,000 in benefits to cover a person’s long-term care needs, Medicaid would not count up to $50,000 of the person’s assets when it determines whether the person is eligible for Medicaid assistance with long-term care costs. This means the person would be able to qualify for long-term care assistance through Medicaid without first having to spend all their personal assets on care.

More on Maine

Maine, like many states, has created a plan to tackle the problem of lack of Long Term Care Insurance coverage for its residents via a partnership program between private industry and the State.  Maine, like most States, has a rapidly aging population and awareness of the need for Long Term Care Insurance remains low.  Long Term Care Insurance covers the cost of services such as nursing homes, in-home care and assisted-living care when one is unable to care for themselves and is not covered by regular health insurance and only by Medicaid if one qualifies, which can be difficult without exhausting all of your assets.

Under Maine’s Long-Term Care Partnership Program, individuals who purchase long-term care insurance policies that meet certain requirements specified by the DRA Partnership Policies can apply for MaineCare assistance under special rules for determining financial eligibility and estate recoveries.  These special rules generally allow an individual to protect assets equal to the insurance benefits received from a Partnership Policy so that such assets will not be taken into account in determining financial eligibility for MaineCare and will not subsequently be subject to MaineCare liens and recoveries.

A recent study found that 70% of Americans have made no plans for long-term care and many were not even aware of this type of insurance and what it covers.  And, given that the Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 2/3 of all Americans will need long-term care at some point after they pass age 65, this does, indeed, constitute a problem to be reckoned with.  Many Americans, regardless of the State in which they live, are now at risk of having to exhaust their nest egg or rely on their children or other relative to care for them in retirement should they become unable to care for themselves.

Residents of Maine are able to participate in the Maine Long Term Care Partnership Program via a number of policy options that meet certain State-mandated criteria.  Maine, like many states, aims to reward those who do their part in solving this problem of Long Term Care Insurance coverage by planning ahead and protecting themselves and their assets.  Basically, it works like this: purchasers of partnership policies are eligible for Medicaid asset protection which means that the asset eligibility, adjustment, and recovery provisions of the MaineCare plan are modified by disregarding an amount of assets, above and beyond the asset disregard or allowance otherwise provided under the MaineCare plan, equal to the amount of insurance benefits received from a Partnership Policy.  This enables partnership policyholders to shield their assets should they need to apply for Medicaid as normally one is required to exhaust all assets before qualifying for Medicaid’s long-term care coverage.

Highlights and requirements of the Partnership Program include:
Policies must…

• be issued to an individual on or after July 1, 2009;
• be a tax-qualified policy under Section 7702(B)(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
• must cover an insured who was a resident of Maine when coverage first became effective under the policy;
• meet stringent consumer protection standards;
• meet the following inflation requirements:
  • For ages 60 or younger – provides compound annual inflation protection
  • For ages 61 thru 75 – provides some level of inflation protection
  • For ages 76 and older – no purchase of inflation protection is required

The inflation protection requirements are crucial here.  Inflation protection insures that your policy will pay out in tomorrow’s dollars and that your covered for the care you need.

You can start planning today for your future long-term care needs and securing all that you have worked so hard to achieve for your retirement by purchasing a Long Term Care Insurance policy.  LTC Tree can assist you in finding a plan through the Maine Long Term Care Partnership Program that is right for you, no matter your age or financial status.  If you would like to learn more about our affordable Maine Long Term Care Insurance Partnership policies, simply fill out this form.