Setting the Record Straight
The Spokesman-Review published a letter to the editor from Susie Young, a home care provider from Spokane.
“As a home care provider, I have to set the record straight on the misleading column by Eleanor Baumgartner (“Washington voters could make long-term care payroll tax optional,” April 17). Until WA Cares came along, you either had to be wealthy enough to pay out of pocket for care or drain your life savings and sell your assets to qualify for Medicaid. When we pay what I consider to be a tiny amount (roughly $6 a week for someone making $50,000) in contributions to build our own benefit, we are taking responsibility for our long-term care needs and saving the state and taxpayers millions of dollars.
With WA Cares, we only contribute when we work. With private long term care insurance ($2,000-$5,000/year with rising premiums, 90-day waiting period and higher costs for women than men) you have to keep paying even if you are out of work or living on a fixed income after retiring. And buyer beware, if you have a pre-existing condition (like half of us do), you will likely be denied a policy in the private marketplace.
Washington’s new long-term care benefit program is a game changer, giving us choices and room to breathe during what can be the most vulnerable, stressful time of their lives. That’s why I was so upset to hear that some mega millionaire from California bankrolled Initiative 2124. They worded it to sound reasonable – make WA Cares voluntary, but experts say that would kill the program, taking our benefits away.”
