AR Average daily benefit purchased: $ 136 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 roughly 3 million people living in Arkansas, according to the US Census, nearly 420,000 residents in Arkansas are aged 65 or older. That’s close to half a million residents and counting in the Natural State who will increasingly need and use Long Term Care. Without Long Term Care Insurance, this rising number of seniors will put increasing economic stress on families and the state. In 2011, the total Long Term Care Medicad expenses alone (not counting additional, private Long Term Care expenses) in Arkansas were over $1.3 billion.

When planning for retirement, Long Term Care Insurance is a key component for securing one’s financial future. Arkansas residents 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.

Under the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Arkansas is an authorized Long Term Care Partnership program state. This program is an alliance between the state and private industry to create an option to help Arkansas residents meet their future long-term care needs without depleting all of their assets to pay for care. Arkansas Long Term Care Partnership policies must be tax-qualified, contain certain consumer protection provisions and provide inflation protection. Partnership policies not only offer benefits to pay for long-term care costs, they also offer Medicaid Asset Protection should you ever need to apply to Arkansas’s Medicaid Program for assistance. Purchasing a Long Term Care insurance policy through the partnership program means you are not only protected by your policy, but also by Medicaid if you ever exceed the benefits of that policy.

More on Arkansas

The population of Arkansas, like many other states, is growing older and the State has instituted a program to tackle the problem of lack of Long Term Care Insurance coverage for its residents.  They have set up a partnership program between private industry and the State to encourage residents of Arkansas to prepare for their future long-term care needs.

Awareness of the need for Long Term Care Insurance remains low in Arkansas, as in the rest of the country.  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.  The Arkansas Long Term Care Insurance Partnership program is aimed at rewarding Arkansans who plan ahead for their future long-term care needs by providing private long-term care coverage and the ability to receive Medicaid benefits while holding onto a larger portion of their assets.

A recent study found that 7 in 10 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 Via the Arkansas Long Term Care Partnership, residents of Arkansas are able to purchase Long Term Care Insurance with a number of policy options that meet certain State-mandated criteria.  Arkansas, 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.  The goal of the Arkansas program is to allow Arkansans to proceed with their later years with dignity, independence and financial peace of mind.

Basically, it works like this: Partnership policies allow you to receive private long-term care coverage and also apply for Medicaid assistance without having to go through the painful process of spending down your hard-earned assets to qualify or ask friends and family for help.  This program 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.  For example, a person who buys and uses a Partnership policy worth $200,000 will be able to protect up to an additional $200,000 of their assets if they later need to apply for Medicaid.  Otherwise, this individual would have had to spend down their assets to $2,000 and may have had their estate taken over by the state after death.

Highlights and requirements of the Partnership Program include:

• Dollar-for-dollar asset protection
• A range of Long Term Care Insurance policy options are available
• Easier transition into Medicaid, should you need it
• You get to keep more of your hard-earned money
• Policies offered by many of the major carriers.

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 Arkansas Long Term Care Partnership Program that is right for you, no matter your age or financial status.  If you’d like to learn more about our affordable Long Term Care Insurance policies, simply fill out this form.  Thank you for reading today’s blog.  We really appreciate it.