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Last-hour politics kill
Bailey’s health mandate review bill
Although an agreement had
been reached on a bill that would have placed a freeze on new health
coverage mandates and required a study of existing mandates, last-hour
politics prevented the measure from being considered by the House of
Representatives before the bill cut-off deadline last Wednesday, said
Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor.
Bailey, the prime-sponsor of House Bill 1685, said she was "greatly
disappointed" that special interest groups took precedence over the
citizens of Washington state who deserve to know the costs of health
insurance mandates.
"Mandates are one of the primary reasons health insurance costs so much.
We have nearly 50 health insurance mandates in the state and there’s no
flexibility in the coverage you may choose. You either must buy an
expensive plan with all of the mandates or go without. Many small
businesses cannot afford these ‘Cadillac’ plans, so that is why many
workers are not able to get health insurance," said Bailey, ranking
Republican on the House Health Care Committee. "This was a simple
measure to have an independent actuarial study of the health insurance
mandates in our state to determine the costs and benefits of each
mandate. It would not have eliminated existing mandates. Rather, it
would have provided more information on each of them."
The measure passed the House Health Care Committee on March 1 and was
sent to the House Rules Committee. On March 14, the bill was forwarded
from the House Rules Committee to the second reading calendar of the
House floor, where it awaited a vote by the full House of
Representatives.
"I worked with my
colleagues on both sides of the aisle and had reached an agreement with
the Democrat chair of the House Health Care Committee. We had both
expected this bill to move forward for consideration before the March 16
deadline," said Bailey.
March 16 was the final day
for bills to be considered in their house of origin.
"The speaker of the House
or the House majority leader could have brought this bill up for a vote
– and we expected they would. However, in the final hours before the
deadline, special interest groups favored by the majority party lobbied
against this bill," explained Bailey. "They do not want the general
public to know what all of the mandates cost. They are afraid that this
information will get out to the public. And so when they found out this
bill might move forward, they lobbied to have it killed."
Although the deadline has
passed, Bailey said she will continue to work toward reviving the bill.
"There are many people who
share my concern about the need to know this information. I’m still
holding out hope that we can continue to work this issue from another
direction," added Bailey. "There are too many innuendos, vague
information and sometimes incorrect information associated with the cost
of writing health insurance in this state. If we are serious about
solving the health insurance crisis in Washington, we have to know what
is driving up the costs so we can take action to address these problems.
The public has the right to know the correct information. It’s important
we move forward."
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For more information, contact:
John
Handy, Assistant Director: (360) 786-5758
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