How I-2124 Will “Blow Up” Our Care Benefits
Washington State Standard’s Laurel Demkovich reports “I-2124 is likely to blow up” Washington’s long-term care finances, according to policy experts and a recent analysis.
“Making this program voluntary is essentially a vote to end the program. It just is not financially feasible as a voluntary insurance program,” said Norma Coe, former University of Washington professor and current director of research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.
An analysis of the initiative released earlier this year found that making the program completely voluntary could make its finances unworkable.
It found that those with anticipated long-term care needs will be more likely to participate, but other workers, especially those earning higher wages, will likely opt out. In this scenario, the program would become more expensive for everyone left in it – a smaller pool of participants with the greatest needs.
Raising the premium to cover promised benefits would likely only drive away more people, worsening the decline, according to the analysis.
“If the cycle repeats without intervention, the program could become financially unstable and unsustainable with an inability to collect premiums that are high enough per person to cover benefits,” State Actuary Matthew Smith told the Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Commission last week.
