Long-Term Care Insurance: Partnership Programs Include Benefits That Protect Policyholders and Are Unlikely to Result in Medicaid Savings

Question: Partnership Programs help those with long-term care insurance to exempt some portion of their assets from Medicaid spend-down rules. Which consumers are likely to participate in Partnership Programs and what are the costs and benefits of such programs to individuals and to the government (in terms of potential savings to Medicaid)? Finding: Using the NIA-funded Health and Retirement Study, GAO found that Partnership programs likely would not result in a savings for Medicaid and could actually increase spending.