WA HB1026

Qualified individuals in Washington's long-term services and supports trust program (WA Cares) may elect to transfer any or all of their available benefit units to their spouse

Receiving spouse must meet functional eligibility criteria for long-term care benefits through an evaluation, regardless of whether they qualify as a contributor to the program

Transfers are permitted to spouses who either never qualified for the program themselves, or who qualified but have exhausted their own benefit units

Transferred benefit units are deducted from the transferring spouse's available balance, maintaining the total benefit amount rather than creating new benefits