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House gives last-minute
approval to Rep. Bailey’s
health care mandate study
With minutes to go before
reaching a critical legislative bill deadline, the majority party
unexpectedly pulled
Rep. Barbara Bailey's health care mandate study bill
directly to the floor for a vote today. The measure passed the House,
95-2.
House Bill 3310 would provide for a cost-benefit analysis of health care
mandates in Washington. Bailey, who has fought for legislation to bring
down the costs of private health insurance, was ecstatic that the bill
finally received consideration by the House.
"Health care costs are escalating out of control. We know one of the
factors is the cost of health insurance in our state. This measure will
allow us to study various segments of our insurance codes. Hopefully,
this will give us some insight as to what is driving up the costs of
health insurance that everyone seeks and wants to have," said Bailey, a
member of the House Health Care Committee. "We know we have very high
insurance costs in Washington. The question is why? So let’s go find
out."
Last year, a similar measure (House Bill 1685) prime-sponsored by Bailey
passed the Health Care Committee and came to the floor where last-minute
politics killed it on the final day for bills to be considered in their
house of origin.
In a bit of irony, that same deadline is today, only this time Bailey
successfully convinced House leadership to suspend the rules in the last
minutes and bring HB 3310 to the floor for full consideration.
"I’ve had a little trouble retrieving this bill. It’s been a long time
coming and I’m really excited that this bill has passed from the floor
of the House," said Bailey, R-Oak Harbor.
The amended version of the bill provides a two-phase study. The first
phase would review the costs of health care mandates and the impact
those requirements have on other health care services and costs. The
second phase would sample at least 10 health conditions or chronic
illnesses in Washington and assess the costs of treatment.
Although the amended bill is more narrow than Bailey had preferred, she
acknowledged it is a good step forward and hopes that it can be expanded
later.
"Although this might not include all the elements that we would like to
study, it is a good start," said Bailey. "I hope that when we look at
the information this will bring us that we will come back and do more. I
do believe there are reasons we may find in this study that will help us
to understand why our insurance costs are so high in Washington."
Under the bill, an initial report on the first phase is due to the
Legislature by Dec. 1, 2006, with a final report due Dec. 1, 2007. The
second phase requires an initial report due by Dec. 1, 2007 and a final
report the following year.
The measure now goes to the Senate for further consideration.
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For more information, contact:
John
Handy, Assistant Director: (360) 786-5758
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