“Legislature delivers Washingtonians wins, losses and important health-care legislation to unwrap,” by Elizabeth Hovde, The Washington Policy Center

Quote:  “The Legislature adjourned Sunday after an active session for health care. The most important takeaway today is that a new payroll tax arrives in January and will take 58 cents of every $100 a worker makes to fund a state-run, socialist-style, long-term care program lawmakers passed in 2019. Rules are still in the works, and definitions and directions are not clearly laid out, causing some confusion, but what is clear is that a bill passed this legislative session further limiting the time Washingtonians have to opt out of this tax grab and make their own choices about long-term care needs. There isn’t a lot of time to unwrap this gift from the Legislature. Washington workers need to have qualifying long-term care coverage in place by November 1st, if they hope to then apply for an exemption. If they don’t get one, the tax collected will provide residents who retire here and who pay in long enough access to an insufficient, not portable, one-size-fits-all benefit for long-term care needs. A private long-term health insurance plan can outdo this government one for many of the people paying hundreds of dollars for a new tax every year.”

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

One last chance in Washington State to get real LTC insurance and avoid the new, otherwise obligatory, tax-under-funded, state government mini-benefit.