Washingtonians for a Responsible Future

The Olympian writes:

A long-term health care financial crisis is looming for the state’s aging population. The state Legislature, individuals and families must begin to prepare for an age wave of unprecedented depth and duration.

Major reforms and new infusions of funding are needed for long-term health care services and support. That’s the system of care to help the elderly and people with disabilities meet their functional needs, including bathing, dressing, toileting, transportation and eating.

As individuals, we tend to be in denial about the possibility that we will lose our independence and need to rely on others for such basic needs, even though most families have someone in that very situation — a mother, a father, a grandparent or a sibling.

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The Spokesman- Review writes:

As Washington awaits the release next week of Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed 2015-2017 budget, and how it will fund another big increase in education spending, a coalition of labor, management and advocates is sounding an alarm about a future challenge: the Age Wave.

An aging population has only begun to impose its infirmities on the state’s Medicaid programs for long-term services and supports, or LTSS. In the current budget biennium, Washington will spend $1.8 billion on LTSS, about 6 percent of state spending. Medicaid pays 62 percent of all those bills, with families and the few with long-term care insurance picking up the rest.

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