Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: Yes. California participates in the federal Long-Term Care Partnership Program, using a dollar-for-dollar asset-protection model, under California Welfare and Institutions Code Division 12 (California Partnership for Long-Term Care), Sections 22000-22010. The program still exists in California law, but the state’s own materials say no insurer is currently selling new Partnership-qualified policies there. Existing policyholders keep their protection; someone shopping today cannot buy a new California-issued Partnership policy.
How the asset protection works
California uses a dollar-for-dollar asset-protection model: an amount of Medicaid-countable assets equal to what a qualified Partnership policy actually paid out is protected (disregarded) both when applying for Medicaid and later in Medicaid estate recovery. California Welfare and Institutions Code Division 12 (California Partnership for Long-Term Care), Sections 22000-22010 is the governing citation. In the state’s own words: “The California Partnership for Long-Term Care Program is hereby established.”
What the state itself says about moving
California’s own program materials, as read this session, do not spell out a reciprocity policy in so many words. The federal default (Deficit Reduction Act of 2005) is opt-out, not opt-in: most Partnership states honor each other’s policies unless a state has formally withdrawn. Confirm the current position directly with the Medicaid agency in the state you are moving to or from, in writing, before counting on it.
Which policies qualify
California’s own materials tie the program to policies issued on or after 1990 (or the date its state plan amendment took effect that year). A long-term care policy bought before that cutoff is not automatically Partnership-qualified in California even if it otherwise looks similar; the policy’s own rider or outline of coverage should say “Partnership” or “Qualified State Long-Term Care Insurance Partnership” explicitly.
Estate recovery, not just eligibility
The federal rule requires the same protected amount to be disregarded twice: once when California decides Medicaid eligibility, and again later if California pursues Medicaid estate recovery against the person’s estate. A Partnership-qualified policy is doing two jobs, not one; see how estate recovery itself works in California.
| Federal Partnership framework itself | 20 years old (in place since February 8, 2006) |
| Federal inflation-protection buyer-age brackets | compound protection required under age 61; some protection required age 61 to age 76 |
| California’s own cutoff (since 1990) | 36 years old |
| This state’s core mechanism | protects $1 of assets for every $1 the policy pays out |
| State citation | California Welfare and Institutions Code Division 12 (California Partnership for Long-Term Care), Sections 22000-22010 |
| Federal authority | 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(b), Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 |
| Participates | Yes |
| Confidence | High |
For the federal rules behind this state page, see how Partnership reciprocity works when you move states and why inflation protection is a condition of staying Partnership-qualified.
Every citation on this page was read directly from the state’s own Insurance Department, Medicaid agency, statute, or administrative code this session (or, where that site could not be reached, from an independently cross-checked legal-database mirror of the same codified text, disclosed below). General information, not insurance, legal, or tax advice on any specific policy or application; program rules and reciprocity agreements can change, and your state’s Insurance Department or Medicaid agency has the final say.