SPOKANE, Wash. – Starting July next year, residents in need of long-term care in Washington will have new options to avoid financial pitfalls while securing additional coverage at a reduced cost.
Local resident, Robbi Magnuson expressed gratitude that her parents were able to afford long-term care insurance. “They were fortunate enough to be able to afford long term care insurance, and without it, they would have probably passed years ago.”
Lynn Kimball from Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington highlighted the importance of long-term care. “You know, 7 in 10 of us will need long term care at one point or another in our lives but most of us don’t have coverage,” she said.
The Washington Cares program aims to make long-term care more accessible. With the new option to combine private insurance with WA Cares, benefits could last longer.
“It’s a limited benefit so it pays up to a certain amount, and that is when the supplemental coverage is going to be really interesting,” stated a representative. Supplemental insurance policies must meet specific guidelines, including providing 12 months of coverage, maintaining current healthcare providers, and offering options to reduce coverage instead of suspending benefits.
“Today if you were to buy standalone coverage, the average is 3,000 dollars a year,” said Director of WA Cares Ben Veghte. With the revised WA Cares, the cost averages out to less than $9,000 over a typical career, deducted from paychecks. Magnuson remarked, “If we can afford it, we better have it.”
The program revision also adjusts the contribution requirement from 10 consecutive years to 10 total years, accommodating individuals with breaks in their work history.
