Washington state’s Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC), led by Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer, has adopted final rules implementing Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5291 on supplemental long-term care insurance, with the rules taking effect on March 7, 2026.
The rules create a regulatory framework under a new chapter of Title 48 RCW, for supplemental long-term care products that begin paying benefits after WA Cares benefits under Chapter 50B.04 RCW are exhausted.
The Washington OIC details that it has amended several Washington Administrative Code (WAC) provisions between proposal (CR-102 filed November 19 2025) and adoption, largely for clarity and alignment with statute. These include grammatical and terminology changes in WAC 284-212-005 and WAC 284-212-020 to use “long-term care services” rather than “supplemental long-term care services,” clarifying references to federally tax-qualified supplemental long-term care policies, and revising WAC 284-212-405 to better describe policies that are federally tax qualified and eligible for the state long-term care partnership programme. Substantive clarifications include amending WAC 284-212-050 to bar supplemental long-term care contracts from excluding coverage for qualified family members as defined in RCW 50B.04.010, and revising WAC 284-212-110 so that producers may verify an applicant’s status as a qualified individual under RCW 50B.04.050(1)(a) or (2), or premium payment status under RCW 50B.04.080, through the applicant’s attestation in the personal worksheet required by WAC 284-212-170. The Washington OIC also updates WAC 284-212-135 to distinguish between appeals of benefit determinations and the third-party review process limited to continuity-of-care disputes, and confirms in WAC 284-23-610 that accelerated death benefit riders are permitted for both supplemental and traditional long-term care insurance.
For insurers, intermediaries and compliance teams operating in Washington state, the OIC’s final statement highlights specific operational obligations tied to the new regime. Under WAC 284-212-150, issuers of supplemental long-term care policies must provide the newly created Consumer’s Guide to Supplemental Long-Term Care Insurance to all prospective applicants, separate from the existing guide for traditional long-term care. Inflation protection offerings under WAC 284-212-055 must now be designed to allow either a 3 per cent option or an option linked to the consumer price index for the Seattle, Washington, area for urban wage earners and clerical workers, or a successor index.
The Washington OIC sets minimum best-interest suitability standards in WAC 284-212-110, requiring issuers and producers to establish standards that include identifying and avoiding conflicts of interest and disclosing, on request, the scope and terms of the producer’s relationship with the applicant. The rules also implement loss ratio standards mandated by RCW 48.212.200(1) in WAC 284-212-210 and WAC 284-212-230, and the OIC states that implementation will be shared across its Rates, Forms, and Provider Networks, Consumer Protection, Company Supervision and Legal Affairs divisions, which will handle supervision, consumer assistance, rule content, authority questions, enforcement and market compliance within Washington state.
