I live in Washington state. The state's innovative long-term care insurance tax is deducted from Washington residents' paychecks unless they prove they have purchased a long-term plan from an insurance provider.

A friend of mine who works for an insurance agent says that she sees many long-term care policy cancellations. She stated that although she believes the WA tax is well intentioned, it contains a loophole that can be exploited by those with the means to pay the high premiums for private plans.

She believes implementation of the state long-term care insurance needs more oversight. The current structure disproportionately taxes lower income workers who have the tax automatically deducted from each paycheck.

Higher income workers buy private plans to satisfy the exemption from paycheck deductions, but they later cancel the plans without penalty because no one in the WA state administration provides compliance oversight.

The plan is a good start but needs tweaking to achieve equity.

#Healthcare #LongTermCare #WashingtonState #Health #Insurance