West Virginia Long-Term Care

The State of West Virginia participates in the federal/state long-term care insurance partnership program. The program was authorized through the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) which empowered states to help their citizens plan for long-term care with additional asset protection.

The West Virginia Long Term Care Partnership is a public/private arrangement between the state government and private long-term care insurers that assists individuals in planning for future long-term care needs. It enables people who purchase qualified long-term care insurance to have more of their assets protected if they later need state assistance in paying for long-term care. Example: if you receive $300,000 in benefits under your long-term care insurance, you may be allowed to protect an additional $300,000 in assets at the time you apply for Medicaid/Medical Assistance through a feature known as “asset disregard” under West Virginia’s Medicaid program.

“Asset disregard” means that an amount of the policyholder’s assets equal to the amount of long-term care insurance benefits received from a qualified partnership policy will be disregarded for the purpose of determining the insured’s eligibility for Medicaid. This generally allows a person to keep assets equal to the insurance benefits received without effecting the person’s eligibility for Medicaid.

Long-Term Care Medicaid spend down is $2000. A spouse’s minimum asset allowance is $24,180.

Most states have reciprocity with other states' long-term-care partnership programs including West Virginia. This means if you move from or to West Virginia your partnership asset protection follows you as well.

West Virginia offers a state tax incentive for qualified long-term care insurance. Resident taxpayers can deduct LTC premium (as defined in the West Virginia Code) paid during the taxable year for the taxpayer, his/her spouse, parent or dependent, from the federal adjusted gross income reported on the West Virginia state tax return.

A deduction is allowed on the state level only to the extent that the amount is not allowable as a deduction for purposes of determining the taxpayer’s federal adjusted gross income for the year of payment.

A variety of products are approved in West Virginia for Long-Term Care planning.

West Virginia Long-Term Care Costs