July 28, 2026
The WISH Act is a bipartisan bill that would create a social insurance program to provide long-term care (LTC) benefits to help seniors fund LTC needs.
Oliver Wyman, GCG Consulting, and ARC released an analysis of the WISH Act proposal. This report aims to provide an understanding of the funding needed to support the program, the population eligible to receive benefits, and the potential impact of WISH benefits on individual finances and Medicaid outlays. Additionally, the analysis estimates changes in required funding that would result from adjustments to the current proposal for program eligibility and benefits. Key takeaways include:
- The current WISH Act proposal would require a 1.7% payroll tax to fund over the next 75 years.
- There are many possible changes that can be made to WISH program parameters to reduce program costs while still providing meaningful benefits. For example, reducing benefit indexation to be consistent with CPI and paying benefits as reimbursement for services can reduce costs by over 50%.
- The WISH Act is expected to provide benefits to many individuals utilizing Medicaid long-term supports and services (LTSS). The report estimates WISH Act benefits could offset up to 25% of future Medicaid LTSS spending once the program matures and covers a large portion of the population.
ARC led the quantitative analysis included in the report.
Click here for the full report.
Click here for a Forbes article discussing the report, its key findings, and its implications.