Saturday, June 27, 2009

Texas Partnership Plan will benefit you.

My generation has taken quite of bit of abuse in the media. We are accused of being the "immediate gratification generation". Supposedly, long term financial planning may be waiting for the BestBuy circular on Sunday. I know that this has fueled several popular talk shows like "Dave Ramsey, etc." Those folks are not the ones that I am speaking with. I typically speak with the planners that have assets to protect and don't want to be dependent on family for their long term health needs.
The state legislature passed the Partnership Plan for Long Term Care with the intention of giving citizens an incentive to act responsibly. By working with a partnership certified agent, you can legally protect your assets for your family and provide a safety net for the catastrophic cost of care.
How it works: Say a consumer purchased a long-term care policy with $300,000 in benefits and has $300,000 in assets. He or she enters long term care and uses up the benefits in the policy. At that point, his $300,000 in assets will not be considered when determining if he qualifies for Medicaid. Without the partnership plan, all of the assets must be spent down to the minimum level before any state money could be used. The look back on assets given away is currently 5yrs. "Under a State Long Term Care Partnership Program, an amount equal to the benefits received under of the long-term care insurance policy is disregarded in determining the assets of an individual for purposes of Medicaid eligibility and estate recovery".
Do yourself a favor and speak with an independent agent that is "Partnership Certified" and understand how this will benefit your family.

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