Michigan long-term care insurance: cost & coverage

Who regulates long-term care insurance in Michigan

Long-term care insurance policies sold in Michigan are regulated by the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS). 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 Michigan

Median assisted living cost in Michigan 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 Michigan

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

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

Michigan's LTC Partnership program

Michigan has an active LTC Partnership program. Michigan's LTC Partnership Program uses an "Asset Disregard" feature that shelters assets dollar-for-dollar with benefits paid under a qualified 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 Michigan treats LTC premiums at tax time

Michigan gives no state tax break for long-term care insurance premiums — neither a deduction nor a credit. Michigan levies a flat 4.25% individual income tax that starts from your federal adjusted gross income, and the only reductions allowed are the specific items enumerated on Michigan Schedule 1. No long-term care premium subtraction appears anywhere on that list, and the Schedule 1 instructions state plainly that miscellaneous subtractions do not include "Itemized deductions from U.S Schedule A" — the very place long-term care premiums are claimed on a federal return. Michigan goes further and expressly excludes long-term care insurance from the medical-premium amounts that reduce total household resources on the Homestead Property Tax Credit (MI-1040CR). Any premium tax benefit a Michigan resident sees comes from the federal return, not the MI-1040.

Source: Michigan Department of Treasury (2025)

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

Medicaid long-term care in Michigan

Michigan's Medicaid program is administered by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and its long-term care eligibility rules live in the Bridges Eligibility Manual. For the categories that actually pay for nursing home and MI Choice waiver care — AD-Care and Group 2 Aged, Blind and Disabled — Michigan has raised the countable asset limit well above the familiar $2,000: it is $9,950 for one person and $14,910 for a couple as of January 1, 2026. Your home is exempt unless your equity exceeds $752,000, and Michigan waives that cap entirely if a spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child still lives there. Once Michigan Medicaid is paying the nursing home, nearly all your income goes to the facility — Michigan leaves a personal needs allowance of just $60 a month.

Source: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services — Bridges Eligibility Manual (2026)

Other Michigan long-term care programs

• MI Choice Waiver. Michigan's MI Choice Waiver is the state's Medicaid home and community-based waiver for older and disabled adults who need nursing-home-level care but want to stay out of a facility. MDHHS calls it "complete health care coverage for eligible adults who meet income and asset criteria and need nursing facility services that can be provided in their own home or other residential setting," furnishing services "to assist aged and disabled Medicaid beneficiaries to live in the community who would otherwise be institutionalized in a nursing facility." MI Choice is Medicaid, so Michigan's Medicaid income and asset rules apply to it.
• Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). Michigan also runs PACE, the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, inside the service areas its PACE organizations cover. MDHHS describes it as a capitated benefit with integrated Medicare and Medicaid financing for frail older people who meet long-term-care level-of-care criteria, so that most participants keep living at home rather than entering a nursing facility. To enroll in Michigan you must be at least 55, meet Medicaid's long-term-care eligibility criteria, live within an approved PACE geographic area, be able to live safely in the community, and not be enrolled in the MI Choice waiver at the same time.
• MI Options. MI Options is Michigan's free long-term-care counseling service, run by MDHHS's Aging, Community Living and Supports Bureau through local agencies and reached at 1-800-803-7174. A trained counselor helps you work out what care you or a relative may need, what it will cost, and how to stay at home. Michigan's State Health Insurance Assistance Program sits alongside it on the same phone line and will "explore long term care financing options, including long term care insurance" with you at no charge — and Michigan says plainly that its SHIP counselors do not sell plans.

How to compare quotes in Michigan

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

Last updated: August 22, 2026