{"id":2233415,"date":"2024-04-30T08:46:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T12:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/confusion-remains-over-wa-cares-exemptions-based-on-private-insurance-plans\/"},"modified":"2024-04-30T08:50:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T12:50:29","slug":"confusion-remains-over-wa-cares-exemptions-based-on-private-insurance-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/confusion-remains-over-wa-cares-exemptions-based-on-private-insurance-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncertainty persists regarding WA Cares exemptions tied to private insurance schemes"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fconfusion-remains-over-wa-cares-exemptions-based-on-private-insurance-plans%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2233415&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>There is confusion among state agencies regarding WA Cares exemptions. Workers contribute to\u200b the program through paycheck deductions. WA\u200c Cares once allowed opting out with \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-you-need-to-know-about-trumps-latest-drug-pricing-moves\/\" title=\"What You Need To Know About Trump\u2019s Latest Drug Pricing Moves\">private insurance<\/a> before Nov. 1, 2021. Those exempted \u2063must maintain coverage. This was clarified in a WA Cares webinar, where it was emphasized\u200b that maintaining the policy is necessary. State agencies are facing\u200c uncertainty about WA\u2063 Cares exemptions. Employees fund \u200cthe program via deductions from their pay.\u2063 WA Cares previously permitted opting out with private insurance before Nov. \u200c1, 2021. Exempted individuals must uphold \u2062their coverage, as emphasized \u2064in a\u200c recent WA Cares\u2063 webinar.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 There seems to be some confusion among certain state agencies about workers who received exemptions from WA Cares, Washington\u2019s mandatory <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/neb-gov-ricketts-says-only-documented-workers-will-receive-vaccine\/\" title=\"Neb. Gov. Ricketts says only documented workers will receive vaccine\">long-term care<\/a> benefit program.<\/p>\n<p>The program is paid for by 58 cents out of every $100 earned deducted from workers\u2019 paychecks.<\/p>\n<p>WA Cares provided a one-time opportunity for people to opt out, if they could show they had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washington-state-to-deduct-new-tax-from-paychecks-starting-july-1\/\" title=\"Starting July 1, Washington state will deduct a new tax from paychecks.\">private long-term care insurance<\/a> in place before Nov. 1, 2021. This opt-out provision is no longer available to new applicants.<\/p>\n<p>Elizabeth New, policy analyst and director of the Centers for Health Care and Workers Rights at the Washington Policy Center think tank, was monitoring a WA Cares webinar last week and took note of someone asking a question she had asked many times: Do people who were approved for exemptions from WA Cares because they had or obtained private insurance plans for long-term care in 2021 need to keep their coverage? <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you received the original WA Cares exemption, then you did attest that you would maintain long-term care, so, yes, you would still be required to maintain that,\u201d Jeff Kendall of the state Employment Security Department said.<\/p>\n<p>A few minutes later, the same question was rephrased for Kendall: \u201cIf they\u2019ve already opted out, are they required to maintain their long-term care insurance policy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d Kendall replied, \u201cthey are required to maintain the policy because that is what they attested to when they applied for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But, ESD posted a note to its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Z9dsKGO9h7U\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>YouTube page<\/strong><\/a> of the webinar Monday morning: \u201cOur presenter misunderstood a question about whether someone who already has a private long-term care insurance exemption needs to maintain their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/matt-walsh-counters-transgender-ideology-with-a-caustic-truth-bomb\/\" title=\"Matt Walsh Counters Transgender Ideology With A Caustic Truth Bomb\">private policy<\/a>. If you already have an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/los-angeles-fire-captain-in-hot-water-after-calling-citys-vax-mandate-a-tyranny\/\" title=\"Los Angeles Fire Captain In Hot Water After Calling City\u2019s Vax Mandate A \u2018Tyranny\u2019\">approved exemption<\/a>, it\u2019s up to you to decide whether to maintain or cancel your private long-term care policy. You should speak with your broker or the agent who sold you the policy about options.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Center Square reached out to ESD for further clarification.<\/p>\n<p>An ESD spokesperson in an email reiterated what is posted on its YouTube page, adding, \u201cThis is not a new policy and has been our FAQ answer for a long time, but our presenter in the webinar misunderstood the question and thought they were asking about canceling the exemption itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>New questions if the ESD presenter misunderstood the question since he responded the same way twice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not sure ESD can even give the final clarification on this, as lawmakers can change the law whenever and however they want,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Complicating matters is <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/letsgowashington.com\/i-2124\/\">Initiative 2124<\/a><\/strong> which will appear on the ballot this November. I-2124 would allow employees and self-employed individuals to opt out of coverage under WA Cares.<\/p>\n<p>New is concerned about the private long-term care market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf voters choose to have this be an optional program instead of a mandatory one, I can\u2019t imagine many people, who only got private LTC plans to avoid WA Cares, would keep those plans,\u201d she reasoned. \u201cThat\u2019s unfortunate for the industry since they\u2019ve become a victim in all this. Writing up all these policies now being canceled. It\u2019s not good all the way around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>State lawmakers, including Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_a7275f6c-01c8-11ef-beaa-af7f77c014c2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>offered several bills<\/strong><\/a> during the 2024 legislative session to address some of the concerns with WA Cares, but none were given public hearings by majority party Democrats. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Certain state agencies are unsure about WA Cares exemptions for workers. WA Cares, Washington\u2019s long-term care program funded by a small deduction from workers\u2019 pay, offered a chance for exemption<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2233416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/iStock-1456035845-1024x548.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2233415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/iStock-1456035845-1024x548.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2233415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2233416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2233415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2233415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2233415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}