One State’s Quest to Introduce Long-Term Care Benefits March 9, 2018
OLYMPIA, Wash. — For a few weeks this year, the rarest of things seemed like it was about to occur. A state, in this case Washington, was working to pass a bill that would institute a new payroll tax to help cover the cost of a much-needed service: long-term care in a nursing home, in a personal residence or elsewhere in the local community.
Rarer still: At least a couple of Republicans, including one of the bill’s primary sponsors, supported the tax proposal.
Eligible adults were to receive $100 a day from the revenue raised by the tax, for up to 365 days — not typically enough to pay the full cost of nursing home care but potentially helpful in keeping less affluent older people from obliterating their savings and ending up on Medicaid.