Nurses Say I-2124 will effectively demolish state’s long-term care insurance

WA State Nurses Association President Justin Gill writes in the Cascadia Daily that a 'yes' vote on I-2124 causes direct harm to patients.

For more than 20 years in a row, opinion surveys show nurses are the most highly trusted professionals. One of the reasons for this may be the safety our patients feel when they share information with us during some of the most vulnerable times of their lives.

As an APRN working in urgent care, I see patients every week who don’t belong in a hospital, but they cycle in and out of the ER because they are unable to get the ongoing support they need at home. They fall, develop an infection, miss medication doses or become malnourished. They are admitted and discharged from the hospital over and over again for preventable reasons. Often, but not always, it’s an elderly patient who lives on their own with no one to help them out, or living with someone who has their own challenges. 

I see patients go home knowing they need help with daily living activities that we can’t provide — managing medication, meals, bathing and dressing, and getting to appointments. Most have no way of paying for this essential care. To many people’s surprise, these expenses are not covered by regular health insurance or Medicare. That’s why Washington’s long-term care insurance program is going to be a game-changer, providing funds to help cover the expenses for home care aides, home modifications like ramps and grab bars, and medical equipment. 

But now an initiative that will be on our November ballots, I-2124, will effectively demolish the state long-term care insurance benefit. The initiative is misleadingly worded to sound like a simple change — making the program optional — but all the experts say it will bankrupt the program, rendering it unable to pay out benefits that we’ve all been building. The real intent behind I-2124 is to destroy this public insurance program, which would only benefit the very wealthy and big private insurance companies. Washington nurses, doctors, and more than 120 organizations that advocate for consumers, working families, retirees and patients oppose the measure. 

By killing care coverage that could prevent these ER visits, I-2124 directly harms the patients we care for every day, and is going to drive up the cost of health care for everyone.

If I-2124 passes, millions of us, including frontline essential workers like nurses, grocery store clerks, teachers and firefighters, will lose our long-term care benefits. Nurses can’t afford the expensive premiums private insurers charge. And those with pre-existing conditions — such as cancer, diabetes or high blood pressure — wouldn’t be eligible for those policies, even if they could afford them. Our focus should be on continuing to strengthen this state program, not tearing it down and harming the patients and families that will need it.

I-2124 is especially harmful to women, who are more often the ones to leave their jobs to care for family members — there are nearly 1 million unpaid caregivers in Washington. I-2124 takes away the ability for women to get paid for their time caring for a parent or spouse as a family caregiver, replacing lost income.

Other programs we take for granted, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, were all subjected to doubts and calls for changes. Today, most of us could never imagine life without them. The same will be true of Washington’s long-term care program in the years ahead. Many other states are poised to follow Washington’s lead in developing solutions to America’s growing care crisis. 

Long-term care is health care. It’s absolutely essential support for anyone experiencing challenges from a serious injury, illness, disease or aging. I-2124 is going to make getting this care more expensive, sending more families into medical debt and driving health care costs up even further. Nurses are not afraid to speak up for what is right. We ask the public to hear us and stand with us in voting “no” on I-2124.