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[parent] [thread] 12 comments
1. SoftTa+(OP)[view] [source] 2025-08-02 16:56:19
I wrote a longer response but deleted it as it was just a personal anecdote. Suffice it to say I'll never buy LTC insurance or participate in any elder care such as "assisted living" or "nursing care." It's all (IMO) engineered to drain old people of their assets before they die. Providing care is nowhere on the list of motivations of anyone involved.
replies(3): >>thepry+G2 >>tiahur+d6 >>Silver+Tk
2. thepry+G2[view] [source] 2025-08-02 17:13:13
>>SoftTa+(OP)
I could not agree more. My father has a neurodegenerative disorder that requires 24 hour care. He did tons of research and purchased LTC insurance decades before he was diagnosed. Experiencing first hand how difficult and predatory both the insurance company and the care facilities are has made it so I will never put my own children through it. My plan is to just euthanize myself when the time comes.
3. tiahur+d6[view] [source] 2025-08-02 17:34:34
>>SoftTa+(OP)
I disagree. Getting a $3800/mo payment for up to 3 years sure was nice when I had to put mom in a $4000/mo assisted living facility.

There’s a reason companies got away from offering these policies, they were losing money on them.

replies(1): >>SoftTa+V6
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4. SoftTa+V6[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-08-02 17:40:26
>>tiahur+d6
In my case they never paid. According to the lawyers I had involved, this isn't uncommon.
5. Silver+Tk[view] [source] 2025-08-02 19:14:04
>>SoftTa+(OP)
Some states are forcing you to buy LTC insurance. I’ve heard Washington does this through some convoluted laws.
replies(3): >>lazyas+wr >>qwerpy+dA >>hawaii+rG
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6. lazyas+wr[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-08-02 20:00:59
>>Silver+Tk
Yea, just like the country forces you to buy Medicare, except convoluted because people hate social safety nets.
replies(1): >>seanmc+SN
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7. qwerpy+dA[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-08-02 21:00:34
>>Silver+Tk
It’s a stealth income tax. Most high income people saw through it and opted out by buying their own LTC (which isn’t indexed to income) and then canceling it once their exemption was recorded.
replies(2): >>hawaii+DG >>Silver+te1
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8. hawaii+rG[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-08-02 21:40:23
>>Silver+Tk
Washington imposed a LTC tax where some percentage of your income is taxed and goes into a fund for LTC. At the time they implemented it, you could opt out by procuring private LTC insurance. Most tech people I know did, because it was cheaper than the tax imposed. We’re still waiting to see if it’s safe to cancel our private policies.
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9. hawaii+DG[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-08-02 21:41:32
>>qwerpy+dA
I only know a couple people who have since canceled their private policies due to a fear the laws will be amended requiring periodic attestation. I’m still holding my policy, though I am eager to cancel it.
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10. seanmc+SN[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-08-02 22:40:02
>>lazyas+wr
Medicare provides a long term benefit as well, anyways the LTC is insolvent and is mostly a ploy to get everyone to pay for expensive unhoused neighbor care (well, the homeless industrial complex gets most of the money, it probably isn’t being used to help many). It doesn’t transfer if you ever leave the state, and doesn’t pay out very much if you ever need it.
replies(1): >>lazyas+bd1
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11. lazyas+bd1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-08-03 03:25:46
>>seanmc+SN
As has been planned and legislated for years, it does transfer out of state as of 2030, which is such well advertised information that people who don’t know it are clearly operating entirely on curated propaganda, not their own thoughts.

You were right in one thing: that yes, it’s going to be insolvent. Why? Because the idiots in legislature were convinced by the anti-safety-net bastards to add an exemption carve-out that fucked the entire financial plan. If you let anyone opt out of Medicare it wouldn’t have existed for six weeks. And now those bastards have the nerve to turn around and say oohhhhh noooooo it’s not even fiscally stable!

But, homeless industrial complex? Ridiculous conspiracy theory nonsense.

For anyone not blinded by that nonsense - the WA LTC benefit would fill in the gaps for people who do not qualify for Medicare long term care, which is basically everyone who is going to need the Medicare benefit, and keep them from going bankrupt, destroying their family or simply dying for lack of care in that year it takes before Medicare kicks in for them.

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12. Silver+te1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-08-03 03:44:30
>>qwerpy+dA
I don’t understand. How is it an income tax? It’s a requirement to get a particular kind of insurance right?
replies(1): >>qwerpy+3h1
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13. qwerpy+3h1[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-08-03 04:27:28
>>Silver+te1
It's an income tax in all but name because your income is taxed a certain percentage in order to fund the benefit.

There was a brief window where you could get LTC insurance from any provider and use it to opt out of the tax. High income earners did that because it was cheaper than paying the tax and also because receiving the benefit required you to stay in WA. The opt-out window has since closed, and if you haven't opted out by now, you will forever pay that tax if you work in WA.

https://wacaresfund.wa.gov/how-it-works

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