“Genworth launches first LTC insurance plan in 5 years as Washington state residents consider ‘crazy’ plan that could end mandatory program”

 

“Genworth launches first LTC insurance plan in 5 years as Washington state residents consider ‘crazy’ plan that could end mandatory program,” by Kathleen Steele Gaivin, McKnights Senior Living

“The one-year anniversary of the effective date of Washington’s first-in-the nation mandatory, tax-based long-term care insurance program passed on July 1, but voters will have the opportunity to make the program voluntary come November. … ‘It would be crazy to kill it,’ [economist Alicia H. Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College] said. … Meanwhile, private companies are beefing up efforts to provide long-term care insurance plans. Genworth Financial, for example, has launched its first long-term care plan in five years, under its CareScout Insurance business.”

LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:

Not so crazy to dump WA Cares if crazy means doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. We’ve done compulsory, payroll-funded entitlement programs over and over again. How has that worked out? Giant unfunded liabilities portend curtailed benefits and worsening recessions. As the Paragon Health Institute pointed out in “Long-Term Care: The Problem” and “Long-Term Care: The Solution,” we need less government interference in the LTC market and more personal responsibility and private financing. So, thank you Genworth for persisting through difficult times and getting back into LTCI.