Insurance

Important Information for Agents Wanting to Sell Long Term Care Insurance:

An individual may not sell, solicit, or negotiate long term insurance unless the individual is licensed as an insurance producer for accident and health or sickness or life. Previously licensed may continue to sell long term care products, but must complete a one-time training course by or before June 30, 2009 and ongoing training every 24 months thereafter. Those who were not yet licensed producers as of July 2008 must obtain the initial course before beginning to sell long term insurance products. The one time training shall be no less than eight hours and the ongoing training shall be no less than four hours. Producers who are exempt from general continuing education requirements (those who have been licensed continuously since January, 1994) are also exempt from the four hour long ongoing courses. Training can occur in the classroom or online. To register for this course click here.

Introduction to the Long Term Care Partnership Program

The Long Term Care Partnership (LTCP) Program is a joint effort between the federal Medicaid Program and Long Term Care (LTC) insurers. The Long Term Care Partnership was developed to encourage people to plan for their future Long-Term Care (CLTC) needs, such as residing in a nursing facility or receiving CLTC waivered services in a home or commuinty-based setting.

The LTCP involves private LTC insurers, LTC insurance producers (agents and brokers), the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) and the Department of Insurance (DOI). Although the Partnership is overseen by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), each state has a great deal of autonomy in its administration. In South Carolina, qualified LTCP policies must provide a specific amount of inflation protection based on the person's age when the policy is purchased and must meet other requirements determined by the Department of Insurance.

A person who requests Medicaid assistance of LTC services after exhausting some or all the benefits of a qualified LTCP policy may have certain assets "disregarded" equal to the benefits paid by the qualified LTCP policy at the time the person is determined eligible for Medicaid. These assets are not counted when the person's Medicaid eligibility is determined and will not be recovered during estate recovery when the person dies.

Long Term Care Insurance Act

A total of 24 hours of continuing education is required biennially by May 1st in the even-numbered years. Of those 24 credit hours, at least three must be from courses categorized as Ethics. Visit our Online Continuing Eduction page to see the list of available courses.