(The Center Square) – There seems to be some confusion among certain state agencies about workers who received exemptions from WA Cares, Washington’s mandatory long-term care benefit program.
The program is paid for by 58 cents out of every $100 earned deducted from workers’ paychecks.
WA Cares provided a one-time opportunity for people to opt out, if they could show they had private long-term care insurance in place before Nov. 1, 2021. This opt-out provision is no longer available to new applicants.
Elizabeth New, policy analyst and director of the Centers for Health Care and Workers Rights at the Washington Policy Center think tank, was monitoring a WA Cares webinar last week and took note of someone asking a question she had asked many times: Do people who were approved for exemptions from WA Cares because they had or obtained private insurance plans for long-term care in 2021 need to keep
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