Typical Olympia; no one really thought through the WA Cares legislation (“A delay in long-term care payroll tax,” The Herald, Jan. 17). Did no one do a financial analysis of this before they passed it in 2019? And they are still on a path that is grossly unfair for those early in their working career.
Why do we think that government can provide this insurance product better than the private sector? I am not sure that our state government is the way to invest for the future; with the overhead for government and employers to administer this plan, I really doubt that it will be sustainable and very useful to many workers.
A better plan: If one invests $1 a day into the stock market starting at age 25, and gets a very conservative 5 percent return, at age 65 they will have more than $45,000 for long term care or other uses. And they don’t have to stay in Washington the whole of their working career and retirement to do it.
If you don’t need it at age 65, it will be $80,000 at age 75, and still more flexible and available than the WA Cares program. Not everyone will qualify for long-term care payout, but everyone qualifies to access their own investment.
It is too bad that this payroll tax will cut into young workers’ capacity to save for their own future and get better returns.
Mike Todd
Mill Creek
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