Basic Benefits & Premium Cost

Core benefits

These benefits must be offered by all participating insurers as part of all plans.

Nursing home care
Home care
Personal care
Assisted living care
Skilled nursing care
Adult day care
Respite care (14 nursing home equivalent days per year)
Care management (2 days of long-term care planning services by a professional)
Alternate level of care
Nursing home bed reservation (20 days per year)
Hospice care
Inflation protection equal to 5% compounded annually
Guaranteed renewable

Optional Benefits

These benefits may be offered in addition to the core benefits and may increase the premium costs.

Waiver of premium
Combined home care benefit
Independent provider benefit
Non-licensed/non-certified provider benefit (not offered as part of the Dollar for Dollar 50 and Total Asset 50 policies)

Partnership Independent Assessment Benefit

This is a unique benefit to Partnership policy/certificateholders. If your Partnership insurance company denies your request to authorize your insurance benefits due to your failure to meet the company's disability standards, and you disagree with their denial decision, you are entitled to an independent review of your disability status through the New York State Partnership office.

Premium Cost

The cost of your policy premiums depends largely on your purchase age and the coverage you choose. The Partnership requires all participating insurance companies to offer a base policy which has the same basic benefits across insurers. Keep in mind that basic coverage represents the minimal Partnership coverage you can purchase. You can, of course, purchase more than base policy coverage. For example, you can purchase a longer coverage duration, a shorter elimination (deductible) period, and/or higher daily benefit amounts. Again, the longer the policy duration, the shorter the deductible period, and/or the higher the daily benefit, the higher the premium. In the New York metropolitan area especially, the Partnership recommends that you consider purchasing higher-than-basic coverage because of the higher costs of long-term care in that area.

Based on Partnership basic policies sold in 2005, the average premiums by selected purchase age were calculated for your information.

Average Annual *Basic Policy Premiums in 2005 by Selected Age
Age	Average Annual Premium **
35	$944
40	$1,029
45	$1,155
50	$1,284
55	$1,531
60	$1,968
65	$2,587
70	$3,817
75	$5,745

*Basic policies are those that are written to meet the minimum standards for the Partnership.
**Based on 2005 minimum daily benefits of $180 for nursing home care and $90 for home care.

Please note: This is the average annual premium. Please shop wisely. Some companies premiums are lower and some are higher.

Some insurance companies offer reduced premiums for certain individuals, for example, discounts for spouses who each purchase a policy. Make sure you shop wisely before selecting your policy.

All Partnership premiums, generally speaking, remain constant starting with the premium at purchase and continuing year after year. In other words, your premium will not increase based on a decline in your health, advancing age, or other personal reasons. However, a future premium increase is possible if your insurance company requests this of the New York State Department of Insurance based on greater than expected claims experience. If the State Department of Insurance approves the premium increase, it will affect all Partnership insureds equally who purchased the same policies from that company.

If You Have Complaints

The New York State Insurance Department regulates the insurance industry in New York and is responsible for handling consumer complaints regarding insurance in New York, including Partnership and non-Partnership long-term care insurance products, selling practices, coverage, underwriting, and premium increases. Please go to the New York State Insurance Department website to contact them.