Long-term Care Partnership / Minnesota Department of Commerce

The Minnesota Long Term Care Partnership is a public/private arrangement between long-term care insurers and Minnesota’s Medical Assistance program. It enables Minnesota residents who purchase certain long-term care insurance policies to have more of their assets protected if they later need the state to help pay for their long-term care. This approach gives Minnesotans greater control over how they finance their long-term care and to helps strengthen the public safety net against demographic pressures.

To qualify for Medical Assistance (MA), most consumers must meet an asset test. The asset limit is currently $3,000. The assets that are counted toward the asset limit are reduced by the dollar amount of benefits that have been paid out by the long-term care partnership policy when the consumer applies for MA. For example, if the Long-Term Care Partnership policy has paid out $25,000 in benefits at the time the consumer applies for MA, this amount of assets will not count toward the asset limit. In addition, the assets that were not counted toward the asset limit cannot be recovered from the consumer’s estate for repayment of MA.

The Long Term Care Partnership program is administered by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, while the Minnesota Department of Commerce is responsible for reviewing and approving Long Term Care insurance policies. Policyholders should contact their insurance companies with any questions regarding their Partnership policies.

Recent changes to the Partnership program
The 2015 Minnesota legislature made four changes to the Minnesota Long Term Care Partnership program that became effective on July 1, 2015:
- The minimum inflation protection percentage was changed from 3% to 1% for a long-term care insurance policy to qualify as Partnership. This applies to policies sold on or after July 1, 2015. (Laws of Minnesota 2015, Chapter 59)
- A long-term care policy that was issued before July 1, 2006 that otherwise meets all requirements for Partnership policy status will be considered qualified as a Partnership policy as long as no benefits have been paid out on the policy. (Laws of Minnesota 2015, Chapter 59)
- For policies sold before July 1, 2006, a policyholder can make a written request to the issuer of the long-term care insurance policy to find out if the policy meets the requirements for a Partnership qualified policy.
- For policies sold before July 1, 2006, the issuer of the policy must reply to the written request within 30 days. If the policy does qualify as Partnership, the issuer must add a rider, amendment, or disclosure statement to the policy to provide documentation of the Partnership policy status. (Laws of Minnesota 2015, Chapter 59)
What qualifies as a Long Term Care Partnership policy?
Unlike partnership programs in other states, Minnesota's program does not require minimum or maximum coverage dollar amounts. To be certified as a Minnesota Long Term Care Partnership policy, it must meet the following criteria:
- As outlined in MN Statute 62S.312, the policy must meet the requirements for being "tax qualified," as defined in Section 7702B(b) of the Internal Revenue Code and meet certain consumer protection requirements in Section 6021(a)(1)(B)(5)(A) of the Deficit Reduction Act which are taken from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Model Act of 2000
- The policy must provide inflation protection if the insured purchased their policy before the age of 76. The minimum amount of inflation protection is 3% for policies issued before July 1, 2015, and 1% for policies issued after July 1, 2015. More detailed information can be found in MN Statute 62S.23, subd 1b.
How do I know if my Long Term Care policy is Partnership eligible?

Policies filed after July 1, 2006 may have had applied for Partnership status with the state of MN. These policies should have been advertised as Partnership eligible when being marketed to consumers. Partnership status cannot be retroactively granted to policies filed after July 1, 2006.

Because the departments do not keep records of insurance policy changes on a consumer-level basis, we will not be able to inform you if your policy is still partnership eligible today as changes to inflation protection may have altered your policy’s partnership eligibility. To find out if your policy is still partnership eligible, please contact your insurance company.

A long-term care policy that was issued before July 1, 2006 that otherwise meets all requirements for Partnership policy status will be considered qualified as a Partnership policy as long as no benefits have been paid out on the policy. In these situations, a policyholder can make a written request to the issuer of the long-term care insurance policy to find out if the policy meets the requirements for a Partnership qualified policy. The issuer of the policy must reply to the written request within 30 days.