Long Term Care Insurance Cost

WA Cares Will Lower Your Long-Term Care Costs

Thanks to WA Cares, we have options when it comes to long-term care. Most of us will need help at home someday. Daily tasks like getting dressed, preparing meals, or moving around our homes. At the same time, most of us have no idea what long-term care costs until we need it. 

With private companies, the long-term care insurance cost can be really high. Plus, the premiums keep increasing as we age, and women are often charged more. Even though Medicaid is paid through taxes, we still need to spend down our assets to near-bankruptcy before we can get help paying for care with funds from Medicaid. This is a huge cost that families shouldn’t have to pay. 

WA Cares is different. We only contribute to the fund while we’re working, and our contributions are small – just $0.58 for each $100. Plus, benefits grow with inflation. WA Cares benefits also cover a lot more than private policies, including family caregiving and home modifications. 

Even with a much higher long-term care insurance cost, private policies are not as flexible as WA Cares. They limit benefits and require complicated approval processes just to use the benefits that you already paid for. Many of us can’t afford the high private long-term care insurance cost, or would be denied simply for having a pre-existing condition. Further, most of us don’t have the savings we need to pay for help at home if we should ever need it. WA Cares provides peace of mind, ensuring that working Washingtonians can get long-term care benefits when they need them.

The Long-Term Care Insurance Cost: Private Companies

WA Cares contributions are affordable. Our WA Cares contributions are only $0.58 for each $100 earned, and we only contribute while we’re working. Other long-term care insurance costs are extremely high. 

Private long-term care insurance costs more for women than men, often doubling premiums based only on gender. In addition, a private policy’s long-term care insurance cost keeps going up as we age. This means that as our income drops in retirement, the long-term care insurance cost with private providers will take up more and more of our budgets. Those of us with pre-existing conditions are likely to be completely denied by private companies. But, if we do get approved, our long-term care insurance cost can be higher than others, because of things as simple as high blood pressure or asthma. 

For example, picture a 45-year-old woman, with no pre-existing conditions, who makes $75,000 per year.  She could pay $120 every month in her private long-term care insurance cost. When she retires at 67, her premiums will be much higher – around $338 each month, getting higher each year. Her private long-term care insurance cost is highest when she has the lowest income. 

With WA Cares, she only contributes $36 every month while she’s working. When she retires, she won’t need to contribute at all. Meanwhile, her private long-term care insurance cost starts at $1440 each year, and would grow to $4000+ as she gets older. With WA Cares, she contributes only $435 each year while she’s working, and $0 after she retires. (Are you curious about your own long-term care insurance cost and your WA Cares contributions? Try our calculator!)

Here’s the bottom line: private long-term care insurance costs are really expensive. With waiting periods, restrictions on how you can use your benefits, and no coverage for family caregivers, private insurance is not the solution that most of us need. WA Cares is affordable, simple, and flexible – and available to all working Washingtonians. When we’re not working, we’re not stuck paying a high long-term care insurance cost. When we need help with daily tasks, we can use our benefits.

Long-Term Care Insurance: Paying For Care Yourself

It’s easy to think that long-term care needs are really far away. We might not be able to imagine needing help with daily living, for things like getting dressed, hygiene tasks, or moving around. But really, the need for long-term care can come up at any time. Even if you’re young, you might need help after an injury, during an illness, or during pregnancy. You may need to help a loved one who is aging or ill. As we age, we might need to modify our homes for better mobility, or need help preparing meals or cleaning so we can keep living at home. 

Not all of us are paying high prices for private long-term care insurance. Maybe you haven’t considered buying a policy yet, or maybe you were denied because of a pre-existing condition. Maybe you decided against private policies because you’re planning to pay for the help, modifications, or equipment you need yourself. 

Most of us, though, cannot afford to pay long-term care costs ourselves. Today, the median American savings account holds less than $5,300. This is not enough to pay for home care or for rising private long-term care insurance costs. Further, women- and BIPOC-led households have lower savings account and retirement account balances, leaving even less of a buffer when care needs arise. The ability to pay out of pocket for our care needs is not an option for most of us.

WA Cares addresses these gaps by providing $36,500 of benefits to any working Washingtonian, regardless of gender, race, or pre-existing conditions. Not only that, the $36,500 will grow with inflation each year. We make small, consistent contributions only while we’re working. And WA Cares covers home caregivers, family caregivers, home modifications, medical equipment, and more.

This means that we can count on WA Cares to help us avoid extremely high fees for long-term care insurance. We can spend up to $36,500 on care without worrying. We can buy the equipment we need, hire caregivers, or pay family members to help us, so we can stay in our homes.

The Price Of Long-Term Care Insurance: Medicaid

Lots of us who can’t afford the private long-term care insurance cost think of Medicaid as a straightforward option for when we need help at home. However, Medicaid is not simple. To qualify for Medicaid, you have to spend down all of your assets to $2000 or less. This includes savings, housing, and retirement. 

Relying on Medicaid for help paying for the care we need can end up being a catastrophic long-term care insurance cost. Even after spending down assets and qualifying, Medicaid still requires approval processes, limits medical equipment spending limits, and does not pay family caregivers. 

“Like most families, we don’t have enough to pay for a home care aide if I ever need one. I don’t know how we’d make it financially.

With my ongoing medical needs, we’ve realized that even really good health insurance doesn’t cover long-term care. And we’ve seen how my grandparents had to drain their hard-earned savings and sell all their assets to qualify for Medicaid.

Thanks to WA Cares, we have options.”

-Dani & Sam

Long-Term Insurance Costs & WA Cares

WA Cares is simple. WA Cares contributions are small – just $0.58 for every $100 earned – only while you’re working. This is much lower than a private company’s long-term care insurance cost (check it out using our calculator here). 

After contributing to WA Cares for just three years, you’ll be likely to qualify for benefits if you need care after an injury or illness. In ten years, you’ll be fully vested in WA Cares, qualifying to receive $36,500 for home care, medical equipment, and other long term care needs for any reason. Even if you’re nearing retirement, you can build scaled WA Cares benefits so you’ll have help when you need it. Find out all the details about the WA Cares fund here.

This $36,500, which will adjust annually for inflation, is especially important because many of us do not have an equivalent amount in savings to fall back on. Without WA Cares, when we need long-term care after an accident, for a pre-existing condition, or due to aging, we would have to spend down our assets to qualify for Medicaid. Or, we would have to wade through complicated private policy limits, approvals, and waiting periods, even after paying an incredibly high long-term care insurance cost. 

While private long-term care insurance costs nearly double for women, WA Cares contributions are the same, regardless of gender. While private long-term care insurance costs increase more and more as we age, our WA Cares contributions stay the same. When Medicaid requires near-bankruptcy, WA Cares steps in to provide a safety net for us. WA Cares is the solution that Washington needs.

More About WA Cares & Long-Term Insurance Costs

Do you want to learn more about WA Cares and long-term care insurance costs? WA Cares is a new program, and we’re getting lots of great questions about WA Cares benefits, like «Does Medicare cover long term care?» If you have questions too, take a look at our FAQ or contact us!