About the Session:
The WA Cares Fund is the nation’s first publicly funded long-term care insurance program, created to help Washington state workers pay for future care needs through a mandatory payroll contribution (0.58% of wages) collected since 2023. Currently, the program is transitioning from a financing phase to delivering benefits: limited pilot benefits began in early 2026, and full benefits—worth up to about $36,500 per eligible individual (adjusted for inflation)—are scheduled to be broadly available starting July 2026.
Recent legislative updates have expanded flexibility, including allowing some previously exempt workers to opt back in, enabling future out-of-state participation, and creating a framework for supplemental private insurance. Overall, the fund remains operational and evolving, with implementation underway and key policy refinements continuing as benefits roll out statewide.
The lessons learned since the program’s inception are critical for other states interested in exploring state-based public financing for LTSS. This session will provide great insights into the challenges that have been addressed, and what the future holds.
About the Speaker:
Benjamin W. Veghte
Ben is Director of the WA Cares Fund, the nation’s first universal long-term care insurance program in Washington state. He is a board member of the American Society on Aging, an MIT Collab Mel King Community Fellow, and a member of the Care Guild, a group of 125 innovators redesigning care for the 21st century. He holds a Ph.D. from the university of Chicago and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. Veghte is an expert on U.S. and OECD social policy with recent publications on the German and Dutch long-term care systems. His research and policy work focus on developing new policies that improve the economic security of families and support them in balancing work and care. He taught comparative social policy and comparative politics as an assistant professor of political science at the University of Bremen, Germany, until 2008. He worked as a social policy consultant for the European Union, working on projects which advised EU accession countries on how to harmonize their social policies with EU standards. Veghte was Vice President for Policy at the National Academy of Social Insurance, and subsequently, he led the research portfolio at Caring Across Generations.
Accessing the Meeting: REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED
Registration Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/m1ffn3WuQNWiuVg1A5zNBA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
If you have any questions. please click here to connect to our email. If you do not have Outlook, or if the link doesn’t work, you can contact us at ltcdiscussiongroup@gmail.com .
Meeting materials will also be posted once available on the Long Term Care Discussion Group website: http://www.ltcdiscussiongroup.org on the PRESENTATION MATERIALS page.