I got a few emails with questions regarding eligibility for public assistant programs.

Here is an answer that may help you…

Receipt of a life settlement may affect your eligibility for public assistance programs such as medical assistance (Medicaid), Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), supplementary social security income (SSI), and drug assistance programs. The money you receive for your life insurance policy also may be taxable.

*Before completing a life settlement contract, you are urged to consult with an attorney, accountant, estate planner, financial planning advisor, your insurer or insurance agent, tax advisor, or a social service agency concerning how receipt of a payment will affect you, your family, and your spouse’s eligibility for public assistance.

For more information about life settlement generally, contact the Department of Insurance in your state of residence.

Life Partners is one of the few publicly traded life settlement companies so it is good to follow how the market is reacting to their business.

Shares of Life Partners Holdings Inc (LPHI) hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $6.91 during mid-day trading and last traded at $7.22. The stock previously closed at $8.17.

Life Partners Inc is engaged in the secondary market for life insurance known generally as life settlements. LPI facilitates the sale of life settlements between sellers and purchasers, but does not take possession or control of the policies. The purchasers acquire the life insurance policies at a discount to their face value for investment purposes. Life settlement transactions involve the sale of an existing life insurance policy to another party. By selling the policy, the policyholder receives an immediate cash payment to use as he or she wishes. The purchaser takes an ownership interest in the policy at a discount to its face value and receives the death benefit under the policy when the insured dies.

On a related note, analysts at Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Life Partners Holdings Inc from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note to investors on Tuesday, February 1st.

Current stock chart on February 16, 2011 at 10:40 am eastern:

Apollo Global Management LLC, the private-equity firm founded by Leon Black, was bidding on $6 billion of life- insurance policies held by Belgian bank KBC Groep NV, two people with knowledge of the talks said this month.

Located on Bloomberg

We will post updates when we hear more. We have seen more and more portfolios offered in the secondary market, most of them with a large percentage of premium financed policies…