Louisiana long-term care insurance: cost & coverage

Who regulates long-term care insurance in Louisiana

Long-term care insurance policies sold in Louisiana are regulated by the Louisiana 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 Louisiana

Median assisted living cost in Louisiana 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 Louisiana

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

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

Louisiana's LTC Partnership program

Louisiana has an active LTC Partnership program. Louisiana operates a DRA-compliant LTC Partnership Program, administered jointly by LDI and the Department of Health, offering dollar-for-dollar Medicaid asset protection for qualifying policies.

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 Louisiana treats LTC premiums at tax time

Louisiana used to reward long-term care insurance directly, and no longer does. Act 11 of the 2024 Third Extraordinary Session repealed the state's credit for long-term care insurance premiums (La. R.S. 47:297(M)) for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025; Louisiana now taxes individual income at a flat 3% with a $12,500 standard deduction, $25,000 for joint filers. One indirect route survives on Form IT-540. If you itemized federally, Lines 9A–9D let you deduct the amount by which your federal medical and dental deduction exceeds a fixed threshold — $15,750 single, $31,500 joint for 2025 — and qualified long-term care premiums count toward that federal medical total within the IRS's age-based caps.

Source: Louisiana Department of Revenue (2025)

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

Medicaid long-term care in Louisiana

Louisiana's Medicaid program is run by the Louisiana Department of Health's Bureau of Health Services Financing, and its long-term care rules are strict. For Medicaid to pay a nursing facility bill in 2026, a single applicant may keep only $2,000 in countable resources and must have monthly income at or below the special income level of $2,982; above that, Louisiana sends you to its spend-down Medically Needy program instead. A married couple does better — the community spouse may keep up to $162,660 in resources plus a $4,066.50 monthly maintenance allowance. Louisiana looks back sixty months at anything given away for less than fair market value, imposes a penalty period if it finds any, and will not pay at all once home equity passes $752,000.

Source: Louisiana Department of Health, Medicaid Eligibility Manual, chart Z-700 (2026)

Other Louisiana long-term care programs

• Community Choices Waiver (CCW). Louisiana's Community Choices Waiver is the state's main Medicaid alternative to a nursing home for older adults and people with adult-onset disabilities. Run by the Department of Health's Office of Aging and Adult Services, it pays for personal care, home-delivered meals, home modifications, an emergency response pendant, therapy, nursing and caregiver respite. Two limits matter if you are weighing insurance. You must be 21 or older, already qualify for long-term care Medicaid, and meet nursing home level of care, and the waiver does not provide help 24 hours a day. Apart from a handful of priority groups, offers go out first-come, first-served by the date you asked. Call Louisiana Options in Long-Term Care at 1-877-456-1146.
• Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. Louisiana's Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, run by the Governor's Office of Elderly Affairs, is free and confidential. Ombudsmen investigate and resolve complaints made by or on behalf of residents of nursing homes, assisted living facilities and personal care homes, and they visit those facilities regularly. The part worth knowing before you buy a policy: ombudsmen also help consumers and potential consumers choose a facility, and help families identify a suitable one for someone they love. Coordinators are assigned by region through Louisiana's Area Agencies on Aging, and the state office in Baton Rouge answers at (866) 632-0922.
• Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). PACE, the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, is a Louisiana option that bundles all of a person's medical, social and in-home support under a single provider so they can keep living at home instead of entering a nursing facility. To enroll you must be 55 or older, meet nursing facility level of care, live in an area a PACE provider serves, and be able to live safely in the community. Geography is the catch: Louisiana's PACE providers cover only parts of New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Alexandria. A participant eligible for Medicaid pays nothing; someone with only Medicare pays the rest of the monthly rate.

How to compare quotes in Louisiana

• Confirm any agent or carrier you talk to is currently licensed to sell in Louisiana — the Louisiana Department of Insurance can confirm licensing status.
• Ask which products a carrier is actively writing in Louisiana 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 Louisiana — 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 Louisiana Department of Insurance or a licensed agent before making any decision. LongTermCareInsurance411 is not a government agency and does not administer Louisiana's insurance regulations or Medicaid program.

Last updated: August 22, 2026