Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: Yes. Tennessee participates in the federal Long-Term Care Partnership Program, using a dollar-for-dollar asset-protection model, under Tennessee Dept. of Commerce and Insurance, TN Long Term Care Insurance Partnership Program Notice.
How the asset protection works
Tennessee 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. Tennessee Dept. of Commerce and Insurance, TN Long Term Care Insurance Partnership Program Notice is the governing citation. In the state’s own words: “Asset Disregard means that an amount of the [policyholder’s] [certificateholder’s] assets equal to the amount of long-term care insurance benefits received under a qualified Partnership [Policy] [Certificate] will be disregarded for the purpose of determining the insured’s eligibility for Medicaid.”
What the state itself says about moving
Tennessee’s own program materials address this directly, describing it this way: if you move to a state that does not maintain a Partnership Program or does not recognize your policy or certificate as a Partnership policy or certificate, you would not receive beneficial treatment of your policy or certificate under the medicaid program of that state.
Which policies qualify
Tennessee’s own materials, as read this session, did not state a specific policy-issue-date cutoff in so many words. The federal baseline (Deficit Reduction Act of 2005) only covers policies issued after February 8, 2006 in any Partnership state; ask the insurer directly whether a specific policy carries the Partnership designation rather than assuming from its purchase date alone.
Estate recovery, not just eligibility
The federal rule requires the same protected amount to be disregarded twice: once when Tennessee decides Medicaid eligibility, and again later if Tennessee 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 Tennessee.
| 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 |
| This state’s core mechanism | protects $1 of assets for every $1 the policy pays out |
| State citation | Tennessee Dept. of Commerce and Insurance, TN Long Term Care Insurance Partnership Program Notice |
| 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.