Editorial: Needed fixes made for long-term care program
By The Herald Editorial Board
Among the early accomplishments of the recently completed session of the state Legislature were reforms to the states long-term care benefit program dubbed WA Cares as well as an 18-month delay to its implementation.
Thats meant that the payroll deductions for almost all workers in the state 58 cents for every $100 of gross pay which was to have started at the first of this year, are now delayed until July 2023. Thats also delayed the availability of benefits for a year and half, but the pause allowed state lawmakers to make some needed changes to the program and for workers in the state to get a better understanding of WA Cares and what it could mean for them later in life.
The payroll tax, when it begins, will go into a special account invested by the state treasurer. That fund will provide a benefit to those participating up to $36,500 in effect, up to $100 a day for a year for expenses for long-term care for seniors and those with disabilities. Those funds would be available to those who have worked at least 10 years without a break of more than five years; or three of the last six years; and have worked at least 500 hours each year.
One of the changes adopted this session by the Legislature expands the program to allow partial benefits to those paying into the program and nearing retirement and who would not have been vested under the original rules.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-needed-fixes-made-for-long-term-care-program/