Washington is one of the best states in the nation for aging because of the ways we provide access to community-based care services and supports, and resources like our state long-term care benefit, the WA Cares Fund. The WA Cares benefit has no daily limits for home care, medical equipment, and home modifications. Benefits start at $36,500 and continue growing with inflation to an estimated $58,300 in 20 years, even after workers retire and stop making contributions.
But Initiative 2124, on Washington voters’ November ballots and backed by conservative hedge fund mogul Brian Heywood, threatens to take this benefit away from more than three million Washingtonians.
The initiative is misleadingly framed as a reasonable change to the Washington Cares program – making it voluntary. But experts say the actual impact, should I-2124 pass, would be to bankrupt the program.
Norma B. Coe, former UW School of Public Health Professor and current Associate Professor at University of Pennsylvania, explained: “Making long-term care insurance voluntary will guarantee that it is unsustainable. Premiums will rise, take-up will drop, and the cycle will continue until there is no longer a program. This is not a vote about voluntary participation; this is a vote about the program’s existence.”
The fact is that a serious injury, accident, disease, or other challenge will leave 70 percent of us needing help with basic daily living activities. But the vast majority of us don’t have a way to pay for that care. The alternative to a state-backed program like WA Cares is paying out of pocket for care, draining savings and assets to qualify for Medicaid, or paying expensive premiums for a private, corporate long-term care insurance policy. A recently released analysis of consumer complaints filed with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner reveals long-term care insurance companies have poor consumer track records, regularly hiking premiums or reducing benefits, and delaying or denying benefit claims.
“When my wife and I bought our policies about 20 years ago, our combined premiums were about $5,000 a year. Every few years they increased substantially. By 2022 they had more than doubled to around $12,000,” said Gifford Jones, a retiree in Seattle. “They have you against a wall, you either have to meet the premium increase or take a reduction in your benefits.”
Unlike regular health insurance, private long-term care insurance companies can and do deny people based on their health and pre-existing conditions.
Kim Allen, a patient advocate with UW Medicine, shared: “I researched long-term care insurance in order to protect my retirement savings. I applied and was rejected for a long-term care policy because of my pre-existing condition. Even though I have the financial ability to buy private LTC insurance to protect my nest egg, I was denied coverage.”
Like Social Security and Medicare, Washington’s long-term care benefit allows seniors, disabled, or severely ill adults to live with dignity and stability. The WA Cares Fund has been improved to cover near retirees and allow us to keep our benefits even if we move out of state.
At an event in May, Governor Jay Inslee said, "Washington is a state that cares for people. We lead the nation on worker protections, paid leave, and now long-term care insurance. WA Cares is there for people when they start to need help with daily functions. And now that we've approved portability, your benefits are there for you even if you're not here in Washington anymore."
By effectively killing WA Cares, I-2124 directly harms:
- People with pre-existing conditions
- Women, who most commonly take on family caregiving at the expense of their own income and ability to save for future needs
- Middle-income working families, the vast majority of whom do not have a nest egg to pay for long-term care needs, and would have to drain their assets to qualify for Medicaid
Judith Bendersky, MPH and certified health education specialist, says, “Long-term care is one of life’s biggest expenses that no one wants to think about or plan for. Everybody wants to stay at home and remain as independent as possible, and that is what Washington’s long-term care benefit aims to help with. Initiative 2124 is misleading and would roll back years of progress to protect our health and our economy.”
PSARA is a longtime advocate for WA Cares and has joined nearly 100 organizations around the state in endorsing the No on I-2124 campaign. To learn more about Initiative 2124 and why you should vote No, visit www.noon2124.com.
