Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: Yes. North Carolina participates in the federal Long-Term Care Partnership Program, using a dollar-for-dollar asset-protection model, under N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 108A-70.4 (enacted by Session Law 2010-68 / Senate Bill 1193).
How the asset protection works
North Carolina 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. N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 108A-70.4 (enacted by Session Law 2010-68 / Senate Bill 1193) is the governing citation. In the state’s own words: “Provide resource disregard to an applicant for long-term care Medicaid who has received benefits under a qualified long-term care partnership policy.”
What the state itself says about moving
North Carolina’s own program materials address this directly, describing it this way: The Department may enter into a reciprocal agreement with other states that enter into a national reciprocity agreement to extend the resource disregard and resource protection to residents of the State who purchased, or purchased and used, a qualified long-term care policy in another state, a permissive, not automatic, reciprocity provision.
Which policies qualify
North Carolina’s own materials tie the program to policies issued on or after 2011 (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 North Carolina 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 North Carolina decides Medicaid eligibility, and again later if North Carolina 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 North Carolina.
| 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 |
| North Carolina’s own cutoff (since 2011) | 15 years old |
| This state’s core mechanism | protects $1 of assets for every $1 the policy pays out |
| State citation | N.C. Gen. Stat. Section 108A-70.4 (enacted by Session Law 2010-68 / Senate Bill 1193) |
| 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.