Kentucky long-term care insurance: cost & coverage

Who regulates long-term care insurance in Kentucky

Long-term care insurance policies sold in Kentucky are regulated by the Kentucky Department of Insurance. If you have a complaint about an agent, carrier, or policy, you can file it with the regulator directly.

What long-term care costs in Kentucky

Median assisted living cost in Kentucky vs. the national median:

Source: SeniorLiving.org median assisted living costs, 2026. See costs for all 50 states for the full table.

What each type of care costs in Kentucky

Assisted living is only one of the settings people use. Median monthly costs across the main care types in Kentucky:

Source: SeniorLiving.org Cost of Care Research (2026)

Kentucky's LTC Partnership program

Kentucky has an active LTC Partnership program. Kentucky's LTC Partnership program was enacted in 2009 under 806 KAR 17:083 and provides dollar-for-dollar Medicaid asset protection.

A Partnership-qualified policy lets you keep an extra dollar of assets, protected from Medicaid spend-down, for every dollar your policy pays out in benefits — see the note above for this state's current status. Learn more about how Partnership programs work.

How Kentucky treats LTC premiums at tax time

Kentucky does tax income — a flat 4 percent on 2025 returns — but it gives you nothing for a long-term care policy. Unlike the federal return, Kentucky does not let you deduct medical and dental expenses at all. The Department of Revenue's own federal/Kentucky differences chart lists medical and dental expenses as deductible federally and nondeductible in Kentucky, and Kentucky's Schedule A has no medical section: only mortgage and investment interest, charitable contributions and gambling losses. Schedule M's list of subtractions from income does not include long-term care or health insurance premiums either, and Kentucky offers no long-term care credit. Any tax break for your premiums will come from your federal return, not from Kentucky.

Source: Kentucky Department of Revenue (2025)

This is general information, not tax advice. Confirm your own situation with a tax professional licensed in Kentucky.

Medicaid long-term care in Kentucky

Kentucky Medicaid is administered by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services' Department for Medicaid Services, and the Department for Community Based Services is what actually decides whether you meet the financial limits. For nursing-facility and waiver care the resource test is unforgiving: $2,000 countable resources for a household of one, $4,000 for two. Kentucky will not pay nursing-facility care if your home equity exceeds the federal limit unless your spouse, a child under 21, or a disabled child lives there, and it looks back sixty months at anything you sold or gave away below value. Income is not a simple cutoff — a Kentucky nursing-home resident keeps a personal needs allowance of $60 a month, raised from $40 by the 2024 budget, and the rest goes toward care. Married couples get spousal-impoverishment protection.

Source: Kentucky Legislative Research Commission (907 KAR 20:025) (2019)

Other Kentucky long-term care programs

• Home and Community Based (HCB) Waiver. Kentucky's Home and Community Based Waiver is the Medicaid program that pays for care at home instead of in a nursing home. You qualify if you are 65 or older or have a physical disability, meet Kentucky's nursing-facility level of care, and meet Medicaid's financial rules. It covers adult day health care, attendant care, home-delivered meals, respite for your family and minor home modifications, and you may hire your own workers. The Department for Medicaid Services and the Department for Aging and Independent Living run it jointly, and there is a waiting list.
• Homecare Program. Kentucky's Homecare Program is state-funded rather than Medicaid, so it is not means-tested down to $2,000 the way Medicaid is. It is for Kentuckians 60 and older who cannot manage two activities of daily living or three instrumental ones and are at risk of going into an institution — or are already in one and could come home with help. It pays for case management, personal care, home-delivered meals, chore service, home repair, respite and home health aide visits, through your Area Agency on Aging. Some areas have waiting lists and not every service is offered everywhere.
• Kentucky State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). Before you buy anything, Kentucky will help you think it through for free. The State Health Insurance Assistance Program gives seniors, people with disabilities, their families and caregivers one-on-one counseling from trained local counselors — by phone or in person, in all 120 counties — on Medicare coverage, benefits and consumer rights. SHIP sells no insurance products of any kind and charges nothing. The statewide hotline is (877) 293-7447, option 2.
• Kentucky Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. If care goes wrong after you are already in a facility, Kentucky gives you a free advocate. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program speaks for residents of nursing homes, personal care homes and family care homes: it investigates complaints, explains your options and follows up to see that fixes hold. More than 80 trained volunteer ombudsmen visit facilities and monitor conditions, working out of fifteen district programs tied to the Area Agencies on Aging. Complaints are confidential and services are free.
• Hart-Supported Living Program. Hart-Supported Living is unusual — a Kentucky grant program, authorized by KRS 210.770, that hands money directly toward whatever individual supports let a Kentuckian with a disability stay in a home of their own and avoid institutionalization. It is deliberately flexible rather than a fixed service menu, and it is administered through regional coordinators. It will not fund segregated or congregate settings, or any single unit where more than three people with disabilities live.

How to compare quotes in Kentucky

• Confirm any agent or carrier you talk to is currently licensed to sell in Kentucky — the Kentucky Department of Insurance can confirm licensing status.
• Ask which products a carrier is actively writing in Kentucky today — availability changes state by state and year to year. See carriers we compare.
• If a Partnership-qualified policy matters to you, confirm with the carrier or agent whether a policy is currently certified as Partnership-qualified in Kentucky — see this state's Partnership status above.
• Compare traditional and hybrid options side by side — see traditional vs. hybrid coverage.
• Get quotes from more than one carrier; pricing for the same coverage can vary significantly.

Please note: Regulator names, complaint channels, and Partnership-program status can change. Confirm current details with the Kentucky Department of Insurance or a licensed agent before making any decision. LongTermCareInsurance411 is not a government agency and does not administer Kentucky's insurance regulations or Medicaid program.

Last updated: August 22, 2026