Long-term needs are not constant due to the fact that they are needed in a long period of time. The costs are usually high in states like New Jersey, Washington, and California where long term care is needed most. A wide-ranging survey is conducted by Genworth Financial which states that the average rate for Assisted Living Facilities can reach the amount of up to $42,000 annually. Private rooms in Nursing homes cost an average median of $87, 345 and semi-private rooms cost $73,000 a year. The state of California is actually one of the top 4 most expensive American states to receive care.

Financially speaking, Long-term care gives burden to many retirees in California. In the 4 million adults in California aged 65 and above, 500,000 of them are senior citizens who are below the Federal Poverty Level. Medical or the California Medicaid Program covers 27% of the state's senior population. This 27% has been spending up to $28.9billion for their California Medicaid benefits. Majority of these Medicaid beneficiaries (40%) are disabled and (27%) are seniors in the year 2006 alone.

Because of these costs, the State has come up with the California Partnership for Long-term Care Program. This is defined as the partnership between the Department of Health Care Services of the State of California and private insurance companies. The California Partnership for Long-term Care Program has the objective of reducing the financial burden that Medicaid normally requires to those who are availing it. It is a Partnership Program is a combination of private insurance and Medi-Cal.

Insurance companies normally offer programs that always defined in policies. For the insurance program to qualify for the Partnership Program, the long term care insurance policies must meet the Partnership Requirements. Along with the Partnership benefits, the program also covers the unique feature of Medi-Cal Asset Protection. A certain senior or disabled person who does meet the spend down requirements of Medi-Cal. The California Long-term Care Partnership Program aims to let these insurance holders to retain their positions as qualified Medi-Cal benefit claimers.

Unlike other Partnership Policies, the California Long-Term Care Partnership Policy offers two types. The first one is the Comprehensive type which covers care at home and in the community, not to mention the care in facilities. The other type of Partnership Policy that is being offered is the Facility only which covers only the facilities that are needed by the insured individual. The common offer of most insurers regarding both types of policies is one to five years of coverage although lifetime coverage has been made obtainable since October 1998. All Partnership policies have these features: inflation protection, partnership policy waiver of premiums, elimination period, care coordination, interchangeable benefits.

In California, a study was conducted in the third quarter of 2008 to make known the information that most Long-term Care Partnership Policy purchasers are between the ages of 55 to 74 and are mostly married women. The studies also showed that most of them preferred the Comprehensive Policy type while 10% chose a Lifetime Coverage.

This article is free for republishing

About Author
Need more information on long term care insurance? Visit http://www.completelongtermcare.com to stay abreast on the current LTC news and long term care insurance Califonia.