Program News & Webinars

Applications are now open. Before benefits begin in July 2026, we will work to register a diverse range of qualified providers for each covered service. To ensure quality care, providers must meet minimum qualifications to participate. Once registered, beneficiaries can choose from these providers — empowering them to select the services that best meet their needs within their own communities. 

We will cover: 
•    How the program works 
•    Types of providers that will be able to register
•    Minimum qualifications and requirements providers will have to meet
•    How to register as a provider 

If you’re self-employed, you can choose to elect coverage and protect yourself with the same affordable benefits available to other Washington workers. Applications became available on July 1, 2023. Coverage must be elected by June 30, 2026, or within three years of becoming self-employed for the first time.

You'll start contributing to WA Cares the quarter after you elect coverage and then submit your first report when that quarter ends. Like all working Washingtonians, your WA Cares contributions will continue until you retire or are no longer self-employed.

We will cover how the program works, how to define a self-employed worker, creating am elective coverage account, how to opt-in and reporting requirements.