“WA Cares needs to clarify family caregivers needn’t be union members,” by Elizabeth New, Washington Policy Center
“Washington state’s new long-term care program, WA Cares, will soon allow family members to be paid for providing care to loved ones. A pilot program is about to begin, and a group of people could become eligible to use the program in July. … Those applicants may not realize an important point: They do not have to be a union member to be a WA Cares caregiver. That distinction is not clearly explained in the application guidance. Clean guidance and a promised alternate pathway have also not been communicated by program administrators when asked.”
LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:
Paying family members to provide care funded by Medicaid or WA Cares is an open invitation to fraud. Bringing union membership into the mix only exacerbates the problem. Elizabeth New and the Washington Policy Center are keeping an eye on these developments. So are the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services with their new program to CRUSH fraud, waste and abuse.