The Kansas Long-Term Care Partnership is a program written into state law that links private long-term care insurance with the state Medicaid program. Its purpose is to finance long-term care through a combination of the two, giving people a reason to insure against care costs and, in return, letting them keep more of what they own if they ever have to turn to Medicaid.
How the asset protection works
The heart of the program is a dollar-for-dollar asset disregard. For each dollar a qualified Partnership policy pays out in benefits, one dollar of your otherwise-countable assets is set aside when Kansas decides whether you are eligible for Medicaid. The same protected amount is also shielded from the state's later recovery against your estate. In plain terms, using your policy's benefits earns you the right to keep an equal amount of savings and still qualify for help.
The program is administered by the state, with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment working alongside the Kansas Insurance Department, and it sits inside the federal framework created by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The disregard applies to what the policy pays out after the program took effect, so it is the benefits actually used that build the protection, not simply owning a policy.
Source: Kansas Statutes, K.S.A. 40-2134, Kansas Long-Term Care Partnership. Verified 1 August 2026.
The Partnership protects assets. It does not change the other rules for qualifying for KanCare, the Kansas Medicaid program, and it is not a promise of eligibility. It is one tool in a plan, best understood next to how Medicaid long-term care works in Kansas.
Who the Partnership suits
The program is aimed squarely at the middle. If you have savings and a home you would like to protect, but not enough to comfortably pay for years of care yourself, the Partnership lets you buy a manageable amount of coverage and still shelter a matching amount of assets. For someone with very little to protect, or so much that Medicaid will never be part of the picture, the extra protection matters less.
Deciding how much coverage to carry is where the Partnership changes the math, because the benefit your policy pays is also the size of the asset shield you earn. That is a decision worth making with a licensed agent rather than a rule of thumb.
Where it fits with the rest of your plan
The Partnership makes the most sense read together with two other things: how Kansas Medicaid and KanCare treat long-term care, and what care actually costs in Kansas. Those pages set the context the Partnership is designed to work inside.
Want to know whether a Partnership policy fits your situation? Ask a licensed Kansas agent, at no charge and with no obligation.
Common questions
Does a Partnership policy guarantee I will qualify for Medicaid?
No. It changes one part of the Medicaid asset test by letting you keep more of your assets, matched to what your policy paid out. You still have to meet the other eligibility rules for KanCare, the Kansas Medicaid program. A Partnership policy protects assets; it does not by itself make you eligible.
What makes a policy a qualified Partnership policy?
A policy has to meet the requirements Kansas sets for the Partnership before it counts, and not every long-term care policy qualifies. Because those requirements can change, the right step is to confirm a specific policy with the Kansas Insurance Department or with a licensed Kansas agent before you buy, rather than assume.
What if I bought my Partnership policy in another state?
Kansas law directs the state to pursue reciprocal agreements so that residents who bought a compliant Partnership policy in another state can still receive the asset disregard here. Whether it applies to your policy is worth checking directly, because reciprocity depends on the other state and the policy meeting federal requirements.