2024 Washington Initiative 2124
Initiative No. 2124 was a ballot initiative in the US State of Washington that appeared on the November 5, 2024 ballot. The initiative, if passed, would have made participation in Washington's state-run long term health insurance program voluntary rather than mandatory. The initiative was one of six brought to the state legislature by Let's Go Washington, a Redmond-based political action committee founded by businessman and hedge fund manager Brian Heywood.
Background
The program known as WA Cares has its roots in the Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Act, which the Washington state legislature passed in 2019. WA Cares is a program is a first-in-the-nation program that provides coverage for long term care costs for Washingtonians, though with a lifetime maximum benefit that started at $36,500. Under the Trust Act, all workers in the state would be required to contribute to the program unless they had acquired private long term care insurance by 2021. Workers pay a 0.58% tax on their income and become eligible for the benefits in July of 2026.WA Cares became one of six issues selected by the Let's Go Washington PAC in 2023 to be included in an initiative petition campaign. The argument made by the organization was that the existing benefit was inadequate to meet citizen needs and that the benefits were not portable. A total of 2.6 million signatures were collected across the 6 issues, including the WA Cares repeal effort, which cleared 324,516 signature threshold required for issue consideration for the 2024 election cycle. I-2124 was the last of the six initiatives to be submitted for consideration. I-2124 was certified by the Secretary of State on January 23, 2024, and introduced to the state legislature on January 29, 2024. In February of 2024, Democratic legislative leaders ruled out any movement on I-2124 in the legislature itself, putting the initiative on track for consideration by the public during the 2024 general election.
Language and impact
I-2117 placed the following question before the citizens of Washington:If passed, I-2124 would have created an opt-out option which would repeal the payroll tax for those opting out but also make them ineligible for the benefit. However, the decrease in payroll tax revenues could create what some insurers call a "death spiral", causing the program to become insolvent within a few years of beginning to pay out benefits.