According to the U.S. Census Bureau, an average of 10,000 baby boomers across the country turn 65 years old daily, with the estimated 73 million members of the generation expected to reach the retirement age by 2030.
With an aging population and a need to properly prepare for an expected surge in elderly Americans who may need assistance, state Rep. Peter Abbarno said it’s important to have discussions about long-term care and how to pay for it long before it’s required.
Abbarno, R-Centralia, visited the Chehalis West Assisted Living Center in Chehalis Wednesday ahead of the legislative session to discuss the state’s long-term care program, the trouble of attracting and retaining staff and the need to discuss long-term care.
“I think the bigger issue is education, and educating the younger population to begin thinking about long-term care planning,” Abbarno said.
The visit highlighted Abbarno’s concerns with the WA Cares Fund, a state-run, long-term care insurance program. Beginning July 1, the program deducts .58% of paychecks to fund nursing care and other services associated with aging. The tax will cost about $290 annually for those who make $50,000 a year.
Originally passed by the Legislature in 2019, the program will provide a $36,500 benefit to residents, adjusted for inflation. According to Abbarno, the service cannot be transferred to a spouse, and those who move out of state are not eligible to receive benefits.
“One of my big biggest criticisms of the state’s long-term care plan is that if I took that exact same amount of money and just invested it into the stock market, I would have more money, more flexibility than $36,500,” Abbarno said, adding the program could give Washingtonians a false sense of security.
Abbarno has signed on to multiple failed attempts to repeal the program and has repeatedly spoken out against the program and tax, though proposals in 2022 and 2023 didn't advance out of committee. After a proposal failed to receive a hearing in 2022, an attempt by Abbarno to bring the bill to the House floor for consideration failed.
“I’ve been opposed to the state’s long-term care bill because I think that the amount that you invest in versus what you get back … it doesn’t go far enough,” Abbarno said, adding he’s heard similar complaints about the program throughout the state.
Representatives throughout Southwest Washington, including fellow 20th District Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, 35th District Reps. Dan Griffey, R-Allyn, and Travis Couture, R-Allyn, and 19th District Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, have supported repealing the legislation.
“I think we really need to hit the reset button,” Abbarno said. “We recognize long-term care is important, but that program is not the answer.”
Abbarno said potential changes could include “changing the parameters of the tax, as well as the investment and then the output, or whether we need to go back and redesign something.”
“I applaud the attempts to address the issue. It’s started a conversation that maybe would not have been started,” said Craig Hammond, president of Chehalis West. “Now, the important thing is the direction of the conversation.”
While legislators continue to debate the effectiveness of the long-term care program, another issue is staffing at facilities such as Chehalis West. In recent years, long-term care facilities throughout the country have seen high rates of turnover and staff who have left the industry, something not lost on the residents.
“They have a hard time keeping help here,” one resident said as Abbarno toured the long-term care unit.
According to the American Health Care Association, the long-term care industry lost 400,000 employees between 2020 and 2022. The high rates of churn and burnout mean facilities struggle to hire, train and retain their staff.
“One of our biggest costs every month is recruiting and maintaining staff,” Hammond said. Chehalis West employs 30 full-time staffers and 20 part-time employees.
According to Nikki Storms, executive director of Chehalis West, the facility has begun an in-house program for recently hired employees, though the training costs roughly $1,000 per staff member. That’s money that is sometimes lost.
“We’ve trained people that don’t come to their first shift,” Hammond said. “We have great success in training in-house, but the recruiting and the training is one of our biggest costs.”
Storms said Chehalis West has not yet found an avenue to recover the costs to train employees.
According to Abbarno, the state has failed to effectively prepare for increased demand for long-term care and other services associated with aging and needs to play catch up to properly care for those who need assistance.
“We’ve known this is an issue,” Abbarno said. “When I was in college, we were talking about the baby boomers and retirement, and when they’re off the payroll and they’re not investing in Social Security anymore … We’ve known about this.”
The Legislature will convene on Jan. 8 for a 60-day session. The session ends on March 7.
