Oregon's Division of Financial Regulation (DFR), part of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, publishes the state's long-term-care insurance information and administers its Qualified Partnership Program. DFR maintains a current public list of companies offering partnership policies, which confirms the Oregon Partnership framework is still active rather than closed to new policies.
A qualifying partnership policy can help someone protect additional assets if they later need long-term care, exhaust their policy benefits, and then need Medicaid. DFR requires a policy to meet state and federal minimum-benefit standards, and age-based policies may need inflation protection — a consumer should confirm that a specific policy, and any later changes to it, still retains Partnership status.
Because benefits paid under a Partnership policy can reduce later estate-recovery exposure, this program interacts directly with the expanded recovery rules discussed elsewhere on this site, making it a meaningful piece of an Oregon funding strategy rather than a stand-alone product decision.
Does Oregon have a Long-Term Care Partnership program?
Yes. Oregon takes part in the Long-Term Care Partnership program created by the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA). DRA Partnership states follow consumer-protection standards drawn from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Long-Term Care Insurance Model Act and Model Regulation. A Partnership-qualified policy gives you dollar-for-dollar asset protection: for every dollar the policy pays in benefits, Oregon Medicaid can disregard a dollar of your assets when it decides eligibility, and the same amount is protected from estate recovery after death.
How the protection works (illustrative): if a Partnership policy pays $200,000 in benefits before you apply for Medicaid, Medicaid can disregard $200,000 of your assets on top of the state's regular asset limit, and that same amount is protected from Medicaid estate recovery later.
What makes a policy Partnership-qualified
- It's a tax-qualified long-term care policy under Internal Revenue Code § 7702B.
- It meets the state's Partnership consumer-protection standards and is issued while you're a resident of a Partnership state (each state sets its own start date and residency rule).
- It carries the required inflation protection for your age when you buy: compound annual protection if you're under 61, some level of protection from 61 through 75, and optional protection at 76 or older.
If you move to another state
Oregon appears on the New York State Partnership for Long-Term Care's reciprocity map as a Partnership state that honors reciprocity. In general, a Partnership policy bought in another reciprocal state keeps its dollar-for-dollar protection here, and a Oregon policy keeps it in other reciprocal states.
The original four: California, Connecticut, Indiana and New York started their Partnership programs before the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Their programs were designed separately from the NAIC-based DRA model, so their rules differ (for example, some offered Total Asset protection), and California doesn't take part in reciprocity. If you bought a policy in one of these states, confirm how it's treated with the Medicaid agency where you'll apply.
Not every insurer offers Partnership-qualified policies in every state. When you compare quotes, ask whether each policy is Partnership-qualified in Oregon.
Sources and official resources
- Oregon DFR: What Long-Term Care Policies Cover
- Oregon DFR: Qualified Partnership Program
- Oregon ODHS: Aging and People with Disabilities
- New York State Partnership for Long-Term Care: State Partnership Programs and Reciprocity map
- U.S. Code: 42 U.S.C. § 1396p (liens, estate recovery, transfers of assets, Partnership disregard)
Rules and figures change. Confirm current details with the agency before you act.