Washington’s long-term care program is officially paused after Gov. Jay Inslee signed two bills last week delaying and modifying the state-run insurance program and payroll tax.

Approval of the bills means that employers officially do not have to withhold the tax from employee paychecks. The state Employment Security Department has issued an update stating that employers should stop withholding the WA Cares payroll tax and reimburse employees for withheld premiums within 120 days of when they were collected.

In a press release and a newspaper column, AWB President Kris Johnson said that these bills are a good start but there is a lot more work to be done.

“It’s critical that lawmakers now use this delay to address all of the issues with the program, including its solvency and the role of the private-sector insurance market,” Johnson said. 

Rollout of the plan was troubled; last year, about 470,000 workers requested to be exempted from the plan. That’s nearly five times more people than the state had assumed in the baseline for the program. Long-term, the plan is insolvent.

Contact AWB’s Amy Anderson or Bob Battles to learn more and get involved.