Washington Long Term Care Insurance Information
Washington is known to provide excellent skilled nursing home care service, as noted by the Medicare 5 Star Quality rating system which has ranked the state 13th nationally. A total of 21,059 beds are found in 220 certified nursing homes spread all over the state to cater to the needs of senior residents in the area.
Per a July 2015 census, Washington has 7,170,351 residents, with 14.4% made up of individuals 65 years and older. Female and male residents are at the same number (50% for each gender).
Low incidence of infectious diseases and low rates of crime are some of the highlights presented by America’s Health Rankings for Washington. However, drug-related deaths have increased since last year (8.4 to 9.5 deaths per 100,000 individuals).
Average Cost of Long Term Care Services in Washington
Costs (2016) for LTC services in Washington are as follows:
Home Health Aide (Daily Rate): $156
Nursing Home Care (Daily Rate, Semi-Private Room): $265
Nursing Home Care (Daily Rate, Private Room): $295
Assisted Living Facility (Monthly Rate, 1 Bedroom-Single Occupancy): $4,500
Washington Long Term Care Partnership Program
Washington has an approved state LTC partnership program. The program was approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last January 1, 2012. 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 Washington, 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, 2012).
- State of Residence: The policy holder must be a resident in Washington 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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