Help is here for Washingtonians who need long-term care | Opinion
Most people my age don’t believe they’ll ever need help getting dressed, using the toilet, taking a shower, getting in or out of a chair, making or eating a meal. That kind of thing happens to other people, or only to very old and frail people, not us, we like to think.
I was forced to face reality when my mother had a debilitating stroke just weeks after retiring from Boeing at age 62. I had no choice but to leave my job mid-career to become her caregiver for the next 10 years. During that time my boyfriend, a healthy working 50-year-old, had a seizure and subsequent stroke that left him incapacitated and unable to work for the rest of his life. Like one in four Americans, I was trying to care for more than one loved one, sliding further into economic insecurity and under enormous emotional and physical stress.
It’s not poor planning that is driving America’s care crisis. Most people don’t understand that 70% of us will need support with activities of daily living or ADLs, at some point in our lives. Even those fortunate few who don’t end up needing care themselves will most likely have a loved one who needs care. As Roslyn Carter famously said “there are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.”
When that day happens, we learn how financially, emotionally and physically crushing it can be to get the support we need to live safely and with dignity, ideally in our own homes. We learn other hard truths, like the fact that neither traditional health insurance, or even Medicare, covers long-term care at home or in a residential facility like assisted living. There’s long-term care insurance, but only about 3% of all U.S. adults or 15% of those ages 65+ have long-term care insurance, mostly because plans are exorbitantly expensive and not available to anyone with a pre-existing condition.
Thankfully today Washingtonians have a life-changing new benefit that’s going to help millions of us. WA Cares Fund is a first-of-its-kind public long-term care benefit that works like insurance, but covers all workers, even those with pre-existing conditions. If you or a loved one needs help with at least three activities of daily living — things like moving around, bathing, toileting, eating and taking medication — you can now apply for your WA Cares benefits. Once assessed and eligible, you can start using your benefits to help cover costs of a home care aide, safety features like grab bars, ramps, bathroom retrofits, care supplies, meals or transportation. WA Cares benefits are available at any point in our lifetime, and we only pay premiums while we are working.
Unlike me fifteen years ago, today’s 30- or 40-something-year-old in Washington has choices. They can either be paid for the care they provide their loved one, or they can keep working and WA Cares benefits can help pay for a homecare aide, meals, and transportation. For the majority of us who don’t have savings set aside to pay for care someday, we have WA Cares to help cover care costs in the years ahead. Once retired, we stop making contributions, but keep our benefit. Near retirees can access a pro-rated benefit (10% for every year they contributed). Retirees who continue to work even very part-time (at least 10 hours a week on average, or 500 hours a year), can continue to vest in their benefit.
Unless you are extremely wealthy and have savings set aside to pay for long-term care, the WA Cares benefit is going to be very helpful. A worker earning about $50,000 a year, for example, pays an annual contribution of about $290. The benefit starts at $36,500 and grows with inflation, projected to increase to $43,387 by 2033. I can tell you from personal experience, that benefit will get you through a crisis or buy time while you prepare for the tough decisions you’re going to have to make in the years ahead.
I’m proud to live in a state that’s taking leadership and delivering meaningful solutions to the care crisis nearly all of us will face someday.
Christina Keys of Vancouver is an advocate for caregivers and a member of the We Care For WA Cares Coalition.