Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law the Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Trust Act, creating the WA Cares Fund and making Washington the first state in the country to establish a mandatory, public, state-run long-term-care (LTC) insurance program for workers. Below are a few key highlights of the new law, with more details following:

The law imposes a new mandatory employee-paid premium of $0.58 per $100 of earnings. This mandatory employee-paid premium is not even expected to cover the total costs of the program in years to come. This of course leaves the door open to the Legislature to further increase the premium beyond the $0.58 per $100 of earnings.

There is no employer-paid portion of the premium. Employers pay nothing towards this insurance program, all costs fall on employees.

The benefits offered under the WA Cares Fund are very limited, once operational on January 1, 2025.

The WA Cares Fund premiums are uncapped (collection of premium is unlimited), but there is a $36,500 lifetime cap (benefits are capped).

Employers do not contribute to an employee's premium or to the Fund on behalf of employees. Employers that willfully fail to withhold and remit the full amount of premiums when due, however, may be liable for the full premium.

At a time when the pandemic is still not over, and people are still dealing with employment uncertainty, rising housing, and inflation. This is not the time to attack hard-working employees' wallets. 

Two years after the LTSS Trust Program was created, SHB 1323 is proposing to change it in some fundamental ways, turning it into nothing more than a money grab by the Legislature to increase funding into a program that will provide Washington state residents with little or no benefits.

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