US long-term care costs are sky-high, but Washington state’s new way to help pay for them could be nixed

Adobe Stock Photo by Marc Cohen, UMass Boston If you needed long-term care, could you afford it? For many Americans, especially those with a middle-class income and little savings, the answer to that question is absolutely not. Nursing homes charge somewhere around US$100,000 a year, while frequent visits from a paid caregiver may set you back more than $5,000 a month. With long-term care so expensive for growing numbers of older Americans, and the federal government doing little to make it accessible, some states are taking matters into their own hands to find better ways to cover costs. Washington state has gone the furthest so far, but the future of its innovative program is not ensured. In November 2024, the state’s citizens will vote on whether to make paying the program tax voluntary, which would essentially make it financially unworkable. I’ve spent the past few years as part of a team of four scholars examining the solutions that Washington and three other states have come up with to help the middle class pay for long-term care. Getting a room in a nursing home comes with a sky-high price tag. Jeremy Poland/E+ via Getty Images No one to foot the bill...