Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: Yes. Illinois participates in the federal Long-Term Care Partnership Program, using a dollar-for-dollar asset-protection model, under Illinois Admin. Code tit. 50, Section 2012.145 (Long-Term Care Insurance Partnership Program); statutory basis 215 ILCS 132.
How the asset protection works
Illinois 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. Illinois Admin. Code tit. 50, Section 2012.145 (Long-Term Care Insurance Partnership Program); statutory basis 215 ILCS 132 is the governing citation. In the state’s own words: “the policy shall provide compound annual inflation protection at a rate of at least 3%”
What the state itself says about moving
Illinois’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Act of 2005) is opt-out, not opt-in: most Partnership states honor each other’s policies unless a state has formally withdrawn.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
Illinois’s own materials tie the program to policies issued on or after 2007 (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 Illinois 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 Illinois decides Medicaid eligibility, and again later if Illinois 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 Illinois.
A note on sourcing: Directly fetched Illinois’s own JCAR page confirming the section exists and ties to 215 ILCS 132 and DRA 2005 Section 6021; dollar-for-dollar sentence itself not independently fetched.
| 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 |
| Illinois’s own cutoff (since 2007) | 19 years old |
| This state’s core mechanism | protects $1 of assets for every $1 the policy pays out |
| State citation | Illinois Admin. Code tit. 50, Section 2012.145 (Long-Term Care Insurance Partnership Program); statutory basis 215 ILCS 132 |
| Federal authority | 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(b), Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 |
| Participates | Yes |
| Confidence | Medium |
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.