Long-term care partnership program.

WORKING DRAFT

ORIGINAL HOUSE

BILL

NO.
0092

ENROLLED ACT NO. 66, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SIXTIETH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WYOMING
2009 GENERAL SESSION

AN ACT relating to
Medicaid
;
establishing

a program
for the financing of long-term care through a combination of

private insurance and medical assistance
; p
rovid
ing
a
sset disregards
for
Medicaid long
-
term care coverage; providing incentives for
using qualified long-term care partnership insurance policies
as specified;

providing definitions; granting rulemaking authority;
and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of
Wyoming
:

Section 1.

W.S. 42
‑
7
‑
101 through 42
‑
7
‑
10
4
are created to read:

CHAPTER
7
LONG-TERM CARE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM

42
‑
7-1
01.

Short title.

This
a
ct may be cited as the

"
Wyoming
L
ong-
T
erm
C
are
P
artnership
P
rogram
A
ct.

42
‑
7
‑
1
0
2.

Definitions.

(a)

As used in this
a
ct:

(i)

"Agency" means the
d
epartment of
h
ealth
;

(ii)

"Asset disregard" means, with respect to qualification for
s
tate Medicaid benefits, the disregard of any assets or

resources in an amount equal to the insurance benefit payments

that are made to or on behalf of an individual who is a

beneficiary under a qualified long-term care insurance
partnership policy;

(iii)

"Department" means the
d
epartment of
i
nsurance
;

(iv)

"Medicaid" means the program administered by the state pursuant to the Wyoming Medical Assistance and Services Act and this act and partly funded by the federal government pursuant to
title
XIX of the federal Social Security Act;

(v)

"Qualified long-term care insurance partnership policy"

means a policy that meets all of the following requirements:

(
A
)

The policy
covers an insured who was a resident of
Wyoming

when coverage first became effective under the policy;

(
B
)

The policy
is a qualified long-term care insurance policy

as defined in
section
7702B(b) of the Internal Revenue Code

of 1986 issued not earlier than the effective date of the
s
tate plan amendment;

(
C
)

T
he
d
irector of

the
d
epartment certifies
that the policy m
eets the model regulations and requirements of

the
national a
ssociation of
i
nsurance
c
ommissioners model

specified in paragraph (5) of
t
itle VI,
s
ection 6021 of the

federa
l Deficit Reduction Act of 2005
; and

(
D)

I
f the policy is sold to an individual who:

(
I
)

H
as not attained age
sixty-one (
61
)
as of the date of

purchase, the policy provides compound annual

inflation protection;

(
II
)

H
as attained age
sixty-one (
61
)
but has not attained age
seventy-six (
76
)
as of such date, the policy provides some level of

inflation protection; or

(
III
)

H
as attained age
seventy-six (
76
)
as of such date, the policy

may, but is not required to, provide some level of inflation protection.

(vi)

"State plan amendment" means a
s
tate Medicaid plan

amendment made
with the approval of
the federal
d
epartment of
h
ealth and
h
uman
s
ervices that provides for the disregard of any assets or

resources in an amount equal to the insurance benefit payments

that are made to or on behalf of an individual who is a

beneficiary under a qualified long-term care insurance

partnership policy.

42
‑
7
‑
1
0
3.

Wyoming

l
ong-term
c
are
p
artnership
p
rogram
established
.

(a)

I
n accordance with
t
itle VI,
s
ection 6021 of the

federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, there shall be

established the Wyoming
l
ong-
t
erm
c
are
p
artnership
p
rogram,

to be administered by the
a
gency with the assistance of the
d
epartment
,
to
p
rovide incentives for individuals to insure

against the costs of providing for their long-term care needs
by creating
a mechanism for individuals to qualify for

coverage of the cost of their long-term care needs under

Medicaid without first being required to substantially

exhaust their resources
.

(b)

The a
gency shall:

(
i
)

Before January 1, 2010
,

or as soon thereafter as possible, make application to the

federal
d
epartment of
h
ealth and
h
uman
s
ervices for a
s
tate

plan amendment to establish that, if an individual is a

beneficiary of a long-term care partnership program

certified policy, the total assets an individual owns and

may retain under Medicaid and still qualify for benefits

under Medicaid at the time the individual applies for

long-term care benefits are increased by
one dollar (
$1
.00)
for each
one dollar (
$1
.00)
of

benefit paid out under the individual's long-term care

partnership pro
gram certified insurance policy;

(
ii
)

Provide information and technical assistance to

the
department
on the
department
's role in assuring that

any individual who sells a qualified long-term care

insurance partnership policy receives training and

demonstrates evidence of an understanding of such policies

and how they relate to other public and private coverage of

long-term care
.

(
c
)

The
d
epartment may not impose any requirement affecting the terms of

benefits of a policy under the partnership program unless the
d
epartment imposes such requirement on long-term care insurance policies without regard to whether the policy is covered under the partnership or is offered in connection with such a partnership.

(d)

The issuers of qualified long-term care partnership

policies in
Wyoming
shall provide regular reports to the
s
ecretary of the federal
d
epartment of
h
ealth and
h
uman
s
ervices, in accordance with federal regulations.

(e)

R
eciprocity
between the program and other state programs shall be subject to the following:

(
i
)

Any individual who has purchased a
p
artnership policy in any
p
articipating
s
tate
,
who has received benefits under the policy and who applies for Medicaid in a
p
articipating
s
tate other than the one in which the policy was issued
shal
l receive
an asset disregard in an
equal dollar
amount
to the benefits received under the policy;

(
ii
)

The asset disregard procedure and calculation
shall
be the same for every individual with a
p
artnership policy
who
applies for Medicaid in the
p
articipating
s
tate, without regard to whether the policy was purchased in another
s
tate or the date the policy was purchased;

(iii
)

An amount equal to the benefits received under the
p
artnership policy
shall
be exempt from Medicaid e
state recovery provisions; and

(
iv
)

If a person moves from the
s
tate in which
the person's

p
artnership policy was issued
,
later a
pplies for Medicaid in another p
articipating
s
tate and is det
ermined to be eligible using a p
a
rtnership asset disregard, the p
artnership asset disregard
shall
not be revoked upon eligibility redetermination should the
s
tate subsequently decide to become exempt from the reciprocity agreement.

42
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7
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1
04.

Administration.

(a)

The a
gency and the
d
epartment are authorized to adopt
rules
to im
plement and administer the provisions of this a
ct.

(b)

The
a
gency and
d
epartment
shall
comply with all federal

rules developed in accordance with
t
itle VI,
s
ection 6021 of

the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, regarding data

reporting, reciprocity with other states that develop

long-term care insurance partnership programs, and any other

matters, and shall have the authority to adopt regulation
s
relative to the provisions of any federal rules and their

administration.

Section 2.

This act is effective July 1, 2009.

(END)

Speaker of the House

President of the Senate

Governor

TIME APPROVED: _________

DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the House.

Chief Clerk

1