On September 2, 2008, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a notice with comment period regarding State Long-Term Care Partnership Program reciprocity agreements. By way of background, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) allows states to provide asset disregards and related estate recovery offsets for Medicaid applicants who receive benefits under qualified long term care insurance policies (Partnership policies) that were purchased in the same state. This notice establishes standards for states that choose to enter into a DRA reciprocity agreement under which they agree to provide the same disregards and offsets for qualified Partnership policies that a Medicaid applicant purchased in another state that participates in the reciprocity agreement.