South Carolina Long Term Care Insurance Information

South Carolina has a population of 4,896,146 residents, per a census done last July 2015. Individuals 65 years and older account for 16.2% of the population, while female outnumber male residents at a figure of 51.4%.

The state is ranked 36^th nationally by the Medicare 5 Star Quality rating program on nursing home care services. South Carolina has 19,282 available beds in 187 certified nursing homes to cater to senior residents in the state.

According to America’s Health Rankings, South Carolina has managed to decrease cardiovascular deaths from 458.9 to 271.8 deaths per 100,000 individuals since 1990. Trouble areas that South Carolina is currently faced with are high prevalence smokers in the state (21.5% residents are smokers) and a high occurrence of violent crime.

Average Cost of Long Term Care Services in South Carolina

Costs (2016) for LTC services in South Carolina are as follows:

Home Health Aide (Daily Rate): $116

Nursing Home Care (Daily Rate, Semi-Private Room): $199

Nursing Home Care (Daily Rate, Private Room): $217

Assisted Living Facility (Monthly Rate, 1 Bedroom-Single Occupancy): $3,000

South Carolina Long Term Care Partnership Program

South Carolina has an approved state LTC partnership program. The program was approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last January 1, 2009. The state will honor partnership from other DRA (Deficit Reduction Act) partnership states.

What is a Long Term Care Partnership Program?

The partnership program is designed to encourage people to purchase long-term care insurance by providing a plan that will allow Medicaid to disregard some or all assets for Medicaid eligibility and estate recovery purposes. Through partnership plans, people will receive asset protection whenever policy benefits are exhausted and will need continued benefits through Medicaid.

Partnership qualified insurance policies allow their holders a much easier time of applying for Medicaid when their current policy benefits have run out. Instead of needing to reach below the asset threshold set by the federal health care program, policy owners can protect an amount of assets equal to their total benefits – allowing them to continue receiving care without the risk of losing their assets to Medicaid estate recovery procedures.

For insurance policies to be certified as Partnership policies in South Carolina, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 has set a number of requirements that must be met:

• Issue Date: The policy must be issued after the effective date of the Partnership Program in the state (January 1, 2009).
• State of Residence: The policy holder must be a resident in South Carolina at the time the coverage became effective.
• Inflation Protection: All Partnership policies must include inflation protection. Policies issued to individuals under age 61 must provide compound annual inflation protection. Policies sold to individuals who have attained age 61 but not yet attained age 76 must include some level of inflation protection. Inflation protection may be offered, but is not required to individuals who have attained age 76.
• Qualified under Federal Tax Law: All Partnership policies must adhere to the definition of a Long Term Care Insurance policy in section 7702B (b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
• Consumer Protection: The policy must adhere to the requirements defined in section 1917(b)(1)(C)(iii)(III) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. section 1396p(b)(1)(C)(iii)(III).

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