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Every day, firefighters and nurses in Washington state help aging people and people with disabilities suffering injuries and illnesses that could have been easily avoided. Many calls to 911, visits to the emergency room, and hospital admissions are related to preventable falls, missed medications, or common infections.
That’s because too many folks can’t afford long-term care. They need someone to help them at home, ensuring they can move around safely, assisting them with prescriptions, bathing, or meals. Health insurance and Medicare won’t pay for the expenses of a home care aide, modifications like grab bars, or assistance with meals or transportation.
According to a 2024 survey, nearly a third of Americans have no emergency savings at all, with 40% saying they would need to borrow money if faced with an unexpected expense greater than $1,000. Even middle-income families can’t afford the cost of long-term care.
The impacts on women are even more acute. Women bear the brunt of the long-term care crisis as the ones most likely to leave careers or cut hours to care for an aging family member, setting them back financially and personally. When it comes time for their own long-term care, women can face discrimination by private insurance companies, which charge them up to 70% more than men for premiums.
This November, Washington voters will consider Senate Joint Resolution 8201 to protect and grow Washington’s public long-term care fund dedicated to women, aging adults, and people with disabilities by allowing its investment in a balanced portfolio. By growing the state fund by billions more each year, this ballot measure will help keep premiums low and may even expand our long-term care benefits without costing taxpayers a penny.
If measure 8201 passes, 100% of investment income from Washington’s long-term care fund will go to caring for aging adults and people with disabilities. The revenue created from these investments cannot be raided or spent on any other programs or services, and would be subject to increased transparency and reporting requirements, making the program more accountable to the public.
This measure received bipartisan supermajority support in the state legislature with nearly every Republican and Democratic legislator voting in favor—128 for and just 16 against. It’s a rare day when both parties agree that something is so necessary that they come together to make it happen. Home health care aides, grocery workers, teachers, and organizations representing millions of people with pre-existing conditions, like the National MS Society, Lupus Foundation, and The ALS Association, are part of the broad coalition supporting measure 8201.
The measure will enable our Washington State Investment Board to invest a portion of the long-term care benefit fund reserves into a diversified market-based investment portfolio, getting higher returns while reducing risk, while continuing to include investments in conservative government bonds and Treasury bills.
Based on the outstanding performance of the nonpartisan investment board, this change will bring the long-term care fund in line with the growth of many other state pension funds and other programs like pension and retirement benefits for firefighters, law enforcement officers, teachers, workers’ compensation, and unemployment insurance.
The Washington State Investment Board has a renowned track record, averaging over an 8% annual return over the last 25 years.
According to an independent actuarial projection, even just a 1% boost in investment returns would mean $67 billion more for the long-term care fund over the next 50 years.
Whether you end up needing some form of long-term care or not, the ability to access and afford those services and support affects us all in some way. Frontline health care workers, like firefighter medics and nurses, know that having funds to cover the cost of help with daily activities is going to be a game-changer for both the people we serve and ourselves.