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Long-Term Care

The Florida Long-Term Care Partnership Program, Explained

A Partnership policy lets you keep a dollar of assets from Medicaid spend-down for every dollar it pays in benefits. The state is explicit that it does not guarantee Medicaid eligibility.

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by

Lifeworth Insurance Agency
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The Florida Long-Term Care Partnership Program is an arrangement between the state and insurers that changes what happens if a long-term care policy runs out and you later need Medicaid. It does not change how the policy pays or what it covers. It changes the Medicaid math afterwards.

How the asset disregard works

Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration describes the mechanism in one sentence: “For every dollar that a partnership policy pays out in benefits, a dollar of assets can be protected from Medicaid spend-down requirements.”

So if a Partnership policy pays $200,000 toward your care and you later apply for Medicaid long-term care assistance, $200,000 of assets that would otherwise have to be spent down can be disregarded. Without a Partnership policy, that protection does not exist.

The order matters. The policy pays first. The disregard applies afterwards, based on what the policy actually paid — not on what it was sized to pay, and not on what you paid in premiums.

The state’s own caveat, and it is the important sentence

AHCA states plainly: “Purchase of a partnership policy does not guarantee eligibility for Medicaid.”

Medicaid long-term care eligibility in Florida involves income tests, asset tests, a level-of-care determination and a look-back at asset transfers. A Partnership policy affects one part of one of those tests. It does not sweep the rest away, and it is not an entitlement to coverage. Anyone who presents it as a guarantee of Medicaid is describing something the state has specifically said is not true.

What makes a policy Partnership-qualified

AHCA states that qualifying policies are “tax qualified (a portion of premiums paid may be claimed as a tax deduction) under federal law” and that they “provide policyholders with inflation protection.”

Both of those have practical consequences:

  • Tax-qualified means the benefit trigger is the federal one — certification that you cannot perform at least two of six activities of daily living for at least 90 days, or that severe cognitive impairment requires substantial supervision.
  • Tax-qualified also means the age-based premium deduction limits apply. For 2026, Revenue Procedure 2025-32 sets these at $500 for age 40 or less, $930 for 41 through 50, $1,860 for 51 through 60, $4,960 for 61 through 70, and $6,200 above 70.
  • The inflation protection requirement is not decoration. It is what keeps the eventual asset disregard meaningful decades after purchase, and the specific requirement varies with the age at which you buy.

Because the inflation-protection requirement is tied to purchase age and the rules are administered by the state, confirm a specific policy’s Partnership status in writing from the insurer before assuming it qualifies. Not every long-term care policy sold in Florida is a Partnership policy.

Who this is actually for

The Partnership feature is worth most to households with assets meaningful enough to be worth protecting but not so large that Medicaid would never be relevant. If your assets would fund decades of care regardless, the disregard is not doing much for you. If you have very little to protect, you may reach Medicaid eligibility without it.

It is worth noting that reciprocity between states is not universal. If there is a real chance you will move, ask how the disregard would be treated where you might go, before relying on it.

What to do with this

  • Ask directly whether a policy you are considering is Partnership-qualified in Florida, and get the answer from the carrier.
  • Ask what inflation protection is required at your purchase age, and confirm the policy carries it.
  • Treat the disregard as a benefit that improves a bad outcome, not as a plan.
  • If Medicaid planning is genuinely part of your thinking, an elder law attorney should be in that conversation. An insurance agent cannot give you legal advice, and this is legal territory.

AHCA also notes that references to products or companies on its pages do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the state.

Lifeworth Insurance Agency is an independent insurance agency. This article is general information, not tax, legal or medical advice, and it does not recommend a product. Policy features, eligibility, pricing and availability vary by company and by state, and benefits are subject to the terms of the contract you actually buy. Read the outline of coverage and the policy before you decide.

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