June 2023 Monthly Newsletter

WA Cares Explainers:

Family caregivers who leave the workforce to care for a loved one lose their own income and health and retirement benefits. With WA Cares, you don’t have to choose between caring for a loved one and your career. Learn more here.

Fund Fact: WA Cares launches July 1.

The WA Cares Fund launches this Saturday, July 1, when more than three million Washingtonians will begin earning benefits. The kick-off of WA Cares represents a critical step toward addressing the long-term care crisis in our state.

Learn more about the launch.

Monthly FAQ: What can I expect on July 1?

Employers are required to withhold contributions from any paychecks paid on or after July 1, 2023. Because workers will contribute through these automatic payroll deductions, they do not need to take any action themselves to participate.

You can use the calculator on our website to estimate your contributions. For the typical covered worker making just over $50,000 per year, contributions will be about $24 a month, or less than a dollar a day. Most workers who participate will be eligible to receive more in benefits than they pay into the program. In fact, workers who claim benefits would have to earn more than $210,000 every year for the next 30 years to contribute more into the WA Cares Fund than they will be eligible to receive for long-term care needs.

If you’re self-employed, you can choose to opt in and protect yourself with the same affordable benefits available to other Washington workers. You can opt in as soon as applications are available on July 1, 2023, and be included in the program the following quarter.

You contribute to the WA Cares Fund for as long as you're working in Washington state. As soon as you retire or if you leave the workforce, contributions stop. Once you’ve met contribution requirements and need long-term care, you can choose from a range of covered services, including in-home care, paying a family caregiver, home safety modifications, home-delivered meals, transportation and more. Benefits will become available July 1, 2026. 

New FAQ Videos:

Check out our new animated videos on who’s covered by WA Cares, how much you contribute and how much you earn in benefits, meeting requirements to access benefits and what the benefit can be used for! You can find the new video series on our YouTube channel. Stay tuned for Spanish versions coming soon.

New Website:

In case you missed it, we launched a new WA Cares Fund website on June 1. The new website features improved accessibility and an extensively tested design, grounded in a year of user experience research. It’s now even easier to estimate your contribution, learn about the fund, dive into resources and toolkits and explore benefit coverage. Visit the website today!

LTSS Trust Commission Meeting: 

Mark your calendar! The next LTSS Trust Commission meeting is scheduled for July 25, 2023. Links for Zoom and the TVW livestream are available now and meeting materials will be posted closer to the meeting date.