Legislature says its new long-term care program offers security – but a look at the details shows that it doesn’t – ClarkCountyToday.com

Vancouver-based Elizabeth Hovde of the Washington Policy Center is encouraging area residents not to participate in the state’s recent marketing campaign to promote its new long-term care law and accompanying payroll tax

Starting January 1, more of your paycheck will be lost if you are a W2 worker in Washington. The state will take 58 cents from every $ 100 you make while claiming it’s for your own good. But it really isn’t, even if one day you are eligible for the measly $ 36,500 lifetime care allowance that can be used to get some or all of your money back.

Long term care is something that many people avail of at some point in their lives and it generally refers to the non-medical care of patients who need assistance with basic daily activities such as dressing, bathing, cooking, medication management, etc. Long-term care can be provided at home, in nursing homes or in assisted living facilities. The best long-term care is private insurance that is affordable and tailored to people’s individual needs.

Elizabeth Hovde

However, some state lawmakers have a different idea. They feel that you shouldn’t be able to decide how to plan your own care needs, but instead be forced to pay into a single socialized program you created. They misleadingly call the mandatory program the WA Cares Fund.

This is why a new payroll tax will soon appear on a paycheck in your area.

Washington workers’ incomes were recently lowered when they all began paying a payroll tax on the state’s paid family and sick leave program. In 2022, they will use even more household budgets for this care fund.

This payroll tax has no minimum wage or income cap, so workers who earn $ 25,000 a year pay $ 145 a year, a worker who makes $ 100,000 pays $ 580 a year, and so on. Anyone who deposits for a required number of years (usually 10 or more) is vested and is entitled to the same lifelong benefit regardless of how much money they have to deposit and regardless of their individual needs.

Don’t buy the marketing campaign that the state recently launched with pride. The US $ 36,500 care allowance is neither sufficient for meaningful long-term care nor, as advertised, offers peace of mind. Even modest care can cost more than double. (See Genworth’s Nursing Cost Survey.)

Worse still, unless you pay in 10 years without a break of five or more years within those 10 years, you typically get zero dollars on your long-term care. You won’t get anything if you don’t need care for at least three daily needs. The service is also not transferable. So if you leave the state in your retirement years, you are out of luck. No Arizona sun awaits you in your golden years. If you live outside of the state and work in Washington, you will forfeit your money on their long-term care too.

While providing false security to taxpaying workers is best for them, many people in the state are frustrated and trying to find a way out of the tax. This is possible for some workers if they have limited, one-time deregistration. (Learn more about opting out from the many blogs I’ve written for the Washington Policy Center, visit the WA Cares Fund website, or contact a care insurance provider, but be aware that this mess has disrupted the insurance market and options are severely limited. It might be too late.)

Starting a conversation about long-term care and encouraging people to make plans would have been an appropriate role for lawmakers; Becoming a long-term care insurer wasn’t it.

The state government takes money from the workers to finance a uniform long-term care program that many people do not want or need – and that some people have not used for years in the program, even after payment.

Legislators should repeal this unfair, costly and inadequate law and the payroll tax that goes with it when they meet again in Olympia. They should also give consumers more choice and cut insurance regulations that limit Washingtoners’ options.

Elizabeth Hovde heads the Washington Policy Center’s Labor Rights and Health Centers and lives in Vancouver.

Also read:

|Thursday, August 19, 2021

The I-1436 initiative will give workers the choice of opting for or opting out of the government long-term care program.

|Wednesday 11th August 2021

Elizabeth Hovde of the Washington Policy Center points out why citizens are calling for this ill-conceived program to be repealed – and some lawmakers are talking about it.

Elizabeth Hovde of the Washington Policy Center shares the latest information from state officials about the new Long Term Care Act and accompanying payroll tax.

Elizabeth Hovde of the Washington Policy Center announced the status of the new state-run and new paying agent-funded long-term care entitlement program.