Tennessee Introduces Long-Term Care Partnership Insurance Policies and Producer Training R...( NASHVILLE Tenn. Oct. 1 /- October...),Health

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- October 1, 2008 is a landmark day in Tennessee history. Today is the effective date of the Tennessee Long-Term Care Partnership that rewards Tennesseans for buying even a small long-term care insurance policy. By encouraging the purchase of long-term care insurance, Medicaid becomes the payer of last resort not first resort. This means that families have more choices as a private-pay patient, and the state Medicaid budget saves money.

Tennessee joins 24 other states in being part of the solution, not the problem, in helping baby boomers solve their long-term care financing needs. These special policies allow policyholders to protect one dollar of assets for every dollar of benefits received under the policy as payment for long-term care services at time of application for Medicaid eligibility. The Partnership has been operating in four states (Connecticut, New York, Indiana and California) since 1992 and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 expanded the opportunity to other states. In the original states, only about 250 policyholders have had to turn to Medicaid for help after receiving benefits from their long-term care insurance policy first, so the Partnership is a phenomenal success.

What are long-term care services? Long-term care is the care needed for help with basic activities of daily living like bathing, dressing, and moving from one place to another. Long-term care insurance policies pay when help is needed with at least two of these basic functions for at least 90 days or when someone has a severe cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer's. Injuries from accidents (auto, water or snow skiing, horseback riding, construction, etc.) or health conditions like brain tumors, Lou Gehrig's disease or strokes) can cause people to need this kind of help.

A common misconception is that this care is only needed by older people and that care is mostly delivered in nursing homes. It's just the opposite.
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