Washington State Bridging the Care Gap

A life-changing new benefit is days away from being available for

people who need long-term care in Washington State. Decades in the making, and with PSARA’s strong support from inception, the WA Cares Fund is a first-of-its-kind public long-term care insurance program. More than 4 million Washingtonians are already enrolled. Benefits are available starting July 1.

Close to half a million Washingtonians will need long-term care service or support within the next ten years. WA Cares Fund will help pay for services not covered by private insurance or Medicare – in-home caregivers, safety features like grab bars, ramps, equipment, care supplies, meals and transportation – support that helps us stay in our homes when we need assistance with daily living tasks because of a serious injury, debilitating disease, stroke, or the normal challenges of aging.

WA Cares works like insurance. If you or a loved one needs help with at least three activities of daily living - moving around, bathing, toileting, eating, and taking medication - you can now apply for your WA Cares benefits. Once assessed, if you are eligible, you can start using your benefits as soon as July.

Says Christina Keys, a spokesperson for We Care for WA Cares, “Affording long-term care is a struggle for most of us. I know because I’ve been there. Like so many women in mid-life, when they are at the height of their career, my world was turned upside down financially, emotionally, and physically when my mother had a stroke at the age of 62 that left her unable to care for herself. Washingtonians now have a benefit we can use to help pay for all the things my mother needed.”

WA Cares benefits aren’t only going to help older adults. The need for long-term care can happen at any age. Even someone in their 20s, who has a debilitating motor vehicle accident, can use their WA Cares Fund benefit to pay for a home care aide, wheelchair ramp, and in-home meal delivery.

Now, people like Christina have choices. They can either be paid as a family caregiver with their parent’s WA Cares benefit, or they can keep working and their mother’s WA Cares benefit can go to pay for a homecare aide, help with meals, and transportation.

Even Washingtonians nearing retirement have lifetime access to a pro-rated portion of the full benefit (10% for every year they contributed while working), should they need to tap it to help cover care costs in the years ahead.

For those living with a degenerative disease like MS or Parkinson’s, WA Cares will be a lifeline when they experience challenges with daily living tasks in the years ahead. Folks who have private long-term care insurance can use WA Cares benefits to help bridge the gaps left by most corporate policies that have 90-day waiting periods and daily caps on how many hours of care insurance will cover. They can use the WA Cares benefit to pay for more hours of help than is covered by their private policy.

And unlike private long-term care insurance that usually requires policy holders to keep paying expensive premiums even after they retire, Washingtonians stop making contributions when they stop working and have lifetime access to their benefits. Retirees who continue working, even very part-time (at least 10 hours a week on average, or 500 hours a year), can keep building their benefits. Any Washingtonian who has been paying into the program for three of the prior six years at the time they apply for benefits can receive the full $36,500. Starting in 2030, even people who moved out of state can still apply for their benefits if they continued paying into the program.

Less than 3% of Americans, 65+, have a private long-term care insurance policy, and few have enough personal savings to pay out of pocket for long-term care support and services. For middle and lower income families, WA Cares benefits are going to be a huge help. A worker earning about $50,000 a year, for example, pays an annual contribution of about $290. This year, the WA Cares benefit amount is $36,500. It will be adjusted annually to grow with inflation. If inflation rises an average of 2.5% per year, the benefit amount is projected to increase to $43,387.03 by 2033.

Cathy Knight, Washington Association of Area Agencies on Aging (W4A) director, explained the big difference even a modest long-term care benefit can make: “Unless you are extremely wealthy and have savings set aside to pay for long-term care, the WA Cares benefit is going to make a difference for the majority of Washingtonians. $36,500 is enough to get you through a crisis or help you prepare for the tough decisions you're going to have to make to access and afford long-term care.”

If you or a loved one wants help with accessing WA Cares benefits, contact a local Area Agency on Aging representative, who can help with the process. To learn more and join our community of WA Cares advocates, visit www.wecareforwacares.org

Key Dates

July 1, 2023, 4.1 million WA workers were enrolled and began making contributions to their WA Cares benefit.

July 1, 2026, Benefits become available to applicants who meet eligibility criteria.

July 1, 2030, out-of-state contributors can begin applying for benefits.

July 1, 2033, An estimated 4 million Washingtonians will be fully vested and have lifetime access to their WA Cares benefit.

We Care for WA Cares is a coalition of Washington health care and worker organizations supporting WA Cares, including Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action, National MS Society,