Important! The new WA Cares Fund is a long-term care benefit program for all eligible workers in Washington state. Our office is not tasked with implementing the WA Cares Fund. If you need more information, be sure to visit the WA Cares Fund website or call 844-227-3492.
Long-term care (LTC) insurance, according to Washington state law (leg.wa.gov), is an insurance policy, contract or rider that provides coverage for at least 12 consecutive months to an insured person if they experience a debilitating prolonged illness or disability.
What does LTC insurance cover?
LTC insurance typically covers these services if they’re provided in a setting other than a hospital’s acute care unit:
- Diagnostic
- Preventive
- Therapeutic
- Rehabilitative
- Maintenance
- Personal care
LTC insurance typically pays benefits when an insured person can no longer independently do two or more of the following activities of daily living (ADLs):
- Bathe
- Go to the bathroom
- Eat
- Dress
- Transfer (such as getting out of a chair or bed)
- Control their bladder or bowels (continence)
Some life insurance and annuity policies include LTC insurance as a rider. However, some life insurance policy riders don’t qualify as long-term care insurance in our state according to RCW 48.83.020 (leg.wa.gov). See a list of companies approved to sell long-term care insurance in Washington state.
What riders qualify as long-term care insurance?
The Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) considers long-term care riders to be a form of LTC insurance if they meet clearly defined benefit requirements.
To qualify as LTC in Washington state, a long-term care rider attached to a life insurance or annuity policy must pay a benefit to cover long-term care services. A rider that specifies its benefits pay for long-term care services, as opposed to a lump sum or payments used at the insured's discretion, can be considered LTC insurance. As such, it will be subject to most of the same requirements the OIC applies to LTC insurance.
LTC insurance also includes “qualified” long-term care insurance riders to life insurance policies. These are also called federally tax-qualified long-term care insurance riders and satisfy the requirements of sections 7702B(b) and (e) of the internal revenue code of 1986, as amended.
What riders do not qualify as long-term care insurance?
A type of rider found in some life insurance policies called an accelerated death benefit does not qualify as LTC insurance. An accelerated death benefit is when the death benefit of a life insurance policy is gradually reduced and converted to cash payments following the diagnosis of a terminal illness. For an accelerated death benefit to qualify as LTC insurance, the rider must comply with all the long-term care regulations. It will refer to long-term care services in the rider's name. An example is an “Acceleration of Death Benefit for Qualified Long-Term Care Services.”
Another common type of rider, a critical illness rider, does not meet the statutory definition of LTC insurance in Washington state. Like an accelerated death benefit, a critical illness rider on a life insurance or annuity policy converts the value of a policy or contract to cash payments if an insured has been diagnosed with a chronic illness.
These two types of riders are known as “accelerated benefits,” as defined by WAC 284-23-620 (leg.wa.gov). Unlike LTC insurance, which requires the insured to no longer be able to perform two or more ADLs, accelerated benefits may be triggered after a single qualifying event. The OIC determined accelerated benefit riders and critical illness riders do not qualify as LTC insurance products. This is mainly because the insured receives the benefits and isn't required to spend the funds on long-term care services. Under Washington state law, accelerated benefits cannot be sold or advertised as LTC insurance.
Still not sure if your policy or contract qualifies as LTC insurance?
Contact your insurance company to find out if the product you’ve bought or want to buy complies with the Washington Insurance Code (Title 48) (leg.wa.gov), Washington Administrative Code (Title 284) (leg.wa.gov) and is an approved company through the OIC or Insurance Interstate Product Regulation Commission (IIPRC).
Riders filed with the IIPRC under the “Individual Standards for Accelerated Death Benefits” (ACCDB) standards are not long-term care insurance products.
Riders filed with the IIPRC under “Individual Long Term Care (iLTC) Uniform Standards are long-term care insurance products.