It is a private insurance policy or rider designed to provide long-term care benefits for at least an additional twelve months after WA Cares benefits have been exhausted.

The WA Cares benefit is designed as a foundation, not a full replacement for private coverage. Supplemental LTC insurance helps fill gaps and provides more flexibility.

Supplemental LTC insurance is designed to provide coverage for at least 12 consecutive months after benefits provided by WA Cares have been exhausted.

Yes. Private LTC insurance is portable within the United States and follows you even if you relocate.

There is wide latitude granted toward the type of products which could potentially qualify as Supplemental Long-Term Care Insurance under RCW 48.212.020. They all must meet the requirement to provide coverage for at least 12 consecutive months after one's WA Cares fund benefits have been depleted, but otherwise could be: • On an expense-incurred, indemnity, prepaid or other basis • Non-tax-qualified, tax-qualified (7702B(b)), or partnership-qualified • Individual, association or group • Traditional LTC insurance • Individual or group life insurance with LTC benefits Products that are excluded include those "offered primarily to provide coverage for basic medicare supplement, basic hospital expense, basic medical-surgical expense, hospital confinement indemnity, major medical expense, disability income, related income, asset protection, accident only, specified disease, specified accident, or limited benefit health."

Producers will not be allowed to solicit Supplemental LTC insurance in Washington unless they have completed best interest training, a standard unique to our state.

Yes, insurers have the option of filing their products as Partnership Qualified (the same as "traditional" long-term care insurance). Simply put, for every claim dollar paid under a Partnership LTC policy, one dollar of your countable assets will be disregarded by Medicaid when determining both eligibility and recovery. In other words, assets are protected from "spenddown" in an amount equal to claims paid.

Yes. In an effort to extend coverage to the widest population possible, WA Cares is "guaranteed issue," meaning no one is turned away or charged more due to health. To help protect fund solvency, Washington requires a vesting period of at least 3 years before new participants can file a claim. As a private product, SPLTCI may underwrite like other long-term care products-- for example, by collecting health history via an application, conducting a phone interview, or ordering relevent medical records. Such requirements are often age-dependent.

WA Cares is a program for employees and the self-employed, but these individuals may have spouses or partners who are not participants in the program. In the past, insurers have extended discounts to applicants whether or not both partners applied, but on this topic it's still too early to know. To stay current, sign up for WA Cares Supplement news.(/contact-us)