What is Initiative 2124?

In NWPB’s recent election survey, many of you requested information about Washington’s ballot initiatives. With that in mind, here’s a quick look at Initiative 2124. 

Initiative 2124 would allow people to opt out of WA Cares, a long-term care insurance program that passed in 2019. It was the first of its kind in the country. 

Washingtonians started contributing 0.58% of their paychecks to WA Cares last year. The idea is that money will help cover the cost of long-term care as workers age — it could go towards paying for caregivers, home modifications or meal deliveries, for example. It could also help workers if they become disabled, ill or injured. 

The state’s residents can see how much they are contributing each year, as well as how much they will contribute over a lifetime, using this Seattle Times calculator. 

An individual earning $60,000 a year, for instance, would contribute about $29 a month. If they paid in for 30 years, that would amount to roughly $10,000. In turn, most workers could receive up to $36,500 of assistance over their lifetime, an amount that will automatically increase with inflation.

Earlier this year, WA Cares became portable, meaning that people can access their contributions even if they move to another state.

Washington estimates that 70% of residents will need long-term care at some point, though many will not have a way to pay for it. Medicaid only covers long-term care for people with less than $2,000 in the bank, and many private long-term care insurance policies are prohibitively expensive.

Initiative 2124, which would make paying into WA Cares optional, was sponsored by Let’s Go Washington, a PAC founded by hedge fund manager Brian Heywood.

Let’s Go Washington says that WA Cares’ $36,500 lifetime cap is too low to be meaningful, since it would cover less than a year of long-term care. It also says that many people won’t benefit from the program, so the state should let them choose whether to participate. 

But modeling suggests that voluntary participation would make WA Cares financially unsustainable. Supporters of WA Cares, which include healthcare workers, the League of Women Voters and AARP, say that passing I-2124 would effectively end the program.