09.14.08

Affordable health care and housing is within reach

Posted in Health Care at 10:20 am by Administrator

More and more working people are going without health insurance because neither they nor their employers can afford to pay for it. For employers, the rising cost of health care makes it difficult to compete in the global economy, and we risk losing jobs to countries that provide health care for their citizens.

Here are some facts about state of the health care from the Healthy Washington Coalition (www.healthywacoalition.org):
 There are roughly 593,000 Washington residents without health care coverage, including 73,000 children.
 Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon raised rates by 26% in 2008 for individual insurance plans and 16% for small group plans, which are mostly for small businesses with 50 employees or fewer.
 Health care costs for the typical household has risen six times faster than income in the last five years.
 An estimated 19,000 Washington residents file for medical bankruptcy each year. Three-fourths of them had health insurance at the time they were sick or injured.
 Since 1993, employer-based coverage dropped from 71% to 66% of full-time jobs in Washington.
 Nearly one-third of non-elderly Washington adults goes uninsured at some point in a two year period.
 Health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored coverage were $1200 higher in 2005 due to the unpaid cost of health care for the uninsured.
 More than a million people in Washington state- about one in four adults under age 65- are expected to spend more than 10% of their income on health care next year, according to a national study.
 Administration takes 30 cents of every dollar spent on health care.

Affordable Health Care solutions
I support the recommendations of the Washington Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Costs and Access and the Health Insurance Partnership, which would provide low-cost health care options to all Washington residents.

I also support these principles of the Healthy Washington Coalition:
 Ensure secure, high quality and affordable health care to all Washingtonians.
 Ensure choice of provider and quality affordable health plans.
 Promote an affordable sliding scale for health care costs to ensure personal responsibility by all adults
 Share the cost for the health system and the responsibility for making the system work between individuals, employers and government.
 Care should be affordable for individuals and employers, including small businesses, and changes to the system should benefit those employers who provide quality affordable health care for employees.
 Encourage personal healthful behavior by providing incentives for preventative care and health education.
 Government should be a watchdog ensuring the health system is working and fair for individuals, employers, and providers; that health care remains affordable; and that there are high quality affordable health plans available.

My opponent Don Benton opposed these legislative efforts to provide affordable health care:
2008 Senate Bill 6333 establishing a citizens’ work group on health care
2007 Senate Bill 5930 providing affordable health care to Washingtonians
2006 Sub House Bill 2572 establishing small employer health insurance partnership program.

Affordable housing
I support the Housing Trust Fund and the Washington Families Fund, which are public-private partnerships that have helped many low income families find affordable housing.

Don Benton opposed 2008 House Bill 1359 creating an affordable housing program.