Maine long-term care insurance: cost & coverage

Who regulates long-term care insurance in Maine

Long-term care insurance policies sold in Maine are regulated by the Bureau of Insurance (Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation). 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 Maine

Median assisted living cost in Maine 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 Maine

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

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

Maine's LTC Partnership program

Maine has an active LTC Partnership program. Maine's Long-Term Care Partnership Program provides dollar-for-dollar MaineCare asset disregard for benefits paid under a qualifying policy.

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 Maine treats LTC premiums at tax time

Maine's state income tax subtraction for long-term care insurance premiums no longer exists. Maine Revenue Services' own 1040ME booklet records that the subtraction at 36 M.R.S. § 5122(2)(T) was repealed for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, and the current Form 1040ME Schedule 1S carries no line for it. What is left is indirect and conditional. If you itemized on your federal return, Maine's Schedule 2 caps itemized deductions at $36,300 — but medical and dental expenses are expressly exempt from that cap. Long-term care premiums reach a Maine return only inside that federal medical deduction, so a Maine filer who takes the standard deduction gets no state break on premiums at all.

Source: Maine Revenue Services (2025)

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

Medicaid long-term care in Maine

Maine's Medicaid program is called MaineCare, and the Department of Health and Human Services runs it in two halves: the Office for Family Independence decides whether you qualify, and the Office of MaineCare Services administers the coverage. For long-term care the money tests are tight. In 2026 an applicant may keep $2,000 in countable assets, $3,000 for a couple, plus a savings exclusion of up to $8,000 ($12,000 for a couple); a spouse who stays at home may keep $162,660. Nursing-facility income is capped at $2,982 a month and leaves a $40 personal needs allowance. Maine also looks back sixty months at assets you gave away, dividing any gift by $13,339 to set the penalty.

Source: Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Family Independence (2026)

Other Maine long-term care programs

• Home Based Supports and Services (HBSS). If MaineCare's home-care benefits will not cover you, Maine has a state-funded fallback called Home Based Supports and Services, run by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Aging and Disability Services. It pays for care coordination, homemaking, personal care, home health, respite, adult day services, transportation, home modifications and home-delivered meals so an adult can stay out of a facility. You must be ineligible for MaineCare's home and community-based waivers, and you may hold up to $50,000 in liquid assets, $75,000 for a couple. You pay a monthly copayment scaled to your income and savings, and because the program is funded only as far as the budget reaches, Maine opens a first-come, first-served waiting list when the money runs out.
• Maine Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. Maine's Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program is a free, confidential nonprofit advocacy service that Maine law authorizes to investigate complaints made by or for long-term care consumers. Its reach is unusually wide: not only nursing home and assisted living residents, but people receiving home-based care, MaineCare waiver services, home health, homemaker, adult day care and hospice at home. Its staff may also advocate for hospital patients who hit barriers getting long-term care arranged before discharge. They answer plain questions too, including where to find services, how services are paid for, and what to do when care is denied, reduced or terminated. Call 800-499-0229.
• Maine State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). Maine's State Health Insurance Assistance Program gives free, confidential counseling on Medicare to Maine residents, sponsored by the Office of Aging and Disability Services together with Maine's five Area Agencies on Aging and Legal Services for Maine Elders. It is not long-term care coverage. What it is good for is the ground around a policy decision: its counselors answer questions about Medicare Advantage, Medigap and MaineCare, give comparison information on Medicare supplement policies, follow up on medical bills, insurance claims and Medicare notices, and help you enroll in Medicare Savings Programs. Maine's SHIP counselors do not sell insurance and do not recommend policies. Reach one through your Aging and Disability Resource Center at 1-877-353-3771.

How to compare quotes in Maine

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

Last updated: August 22, 2026