Category: Let’s Hear From the States

Up to date information on what Your state is doing.

Jan 01

What your state lets you keep, effective 7/1/2024

By Phyllis Shelton

This is a table that shows the minimum assets and income each state allows nursing-home residents and their spouses to keep.

Feb 01

The Partnership for Long-Term Care

By Phyllis Shelton

The idea of the Long-Term Care Partnership is to provide a way for the Medicaid program to work together with private long-term care insurance to help those people who are caught in the middle: they can’t afford to pay the cost of the care or even the cost of a long-term care insurance policy with unlimited benefits, yet their assets are too high to qualify for Medicaid to pay their long-term care expenses. Many middle-income workers and retirees find themselves in this position.

Participating insurance companies in the Partnership recognize the needs of these middle-income Americans by providing LTC insurance policies that have built-in consumer protection benefit standards, and participating states cooperate by allowing these policyholders to access Medicaid without spending down their assets almost to poverty level if the insurance benefits run out.

Dec 14

State Budget Shortfalls and State-Specific Budget Cuts

By Phyllis Shelton

Public-Private Long-Term Care Insurance Plans will have a tremendously positive impact on state budgets if we educate employers to offer it now to all employees to decrease cuts in other services like you see here.

Dec 09

States Continue to Feel Recession’s Impact

By Phyllis Shelton

By Elizabeth McNichol, Phil Oliff, and Nicholas Johnson

The worst recession since the 1930s has caused the steepest decline in state tax receipts on record. State tax collections, adjusted for inflation, are now 12 percent below pre-recession levels, while the need for state-funded services has not declined. As a result, even after making very deep spending cuts over the last two years, states continue to face large budget gaps.

Nov 05

An Update on State Budget Cuts

By Phyllis Shelton

By Nicholas Johnson, Phil Oliff, and Erica Williams

With tax revenue still declining as a result of the recession and budget reserves largely drained, the vast majority of states have made spending cuts that hurt families and reduce necessary services. These cuts, in turn, have deepened states’ economic problems because families and businesses have less to spend.