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Republican caucus in step
with president on health care reform
House Republican caucus
leaders say they’re in line with the Bush administration in a call for
health care reform. In contrast, Republican leaders say, the majority
party is out of touch with what citizens want and have yet to introduce
any substantive legislation on health care reform.
“We’ve seen nothing but the same old health care bills that would
continue the failed policies of health care by the majority party,” said
Rep.
Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, House Ranking Republican on the Health
Care Committee. “These bills insert more government into health care
policy and reduce choice for patients. It seems as if the majority
party’s idea for health care reform is to sue Wal-Mart and send people
to Canada for prescription drugs. We have to reduce government
regulation and resist government control by bringing more patient
options to the marketplace. Then patients can make their own health care
decisions and have more affordable choices in health coverage.”
President Bush is expected to mirror state Republicans’ ideas for health
care reform. According to Bush administration officials, the President
will speak about reform in his State of the Union address tonight. He is
expected to ask that Americans be allowed to own a health care account
and make decisions that are best for them. Bush is also expected to ask
for tax breaks for those who use consumer-directed health savings
accounts. All of this reform is expected to persuade Americans to rely
less on government-provided health care and encourage more individual
control, thus lowering overall costs.
The Bush policy is similar to House Bills introduced by Republicans this
session.
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House Bill 2904
- This bill would sunset all existing health insurance statutes
which would a JLARC review and the legislature would have to enact
new statutes. A review of the existing health insurance mandates and
statutes must be done to identify government regulations that are
restricting consumer choice and driving up health care costs.
-
House Bill 2728
- This bill would provide a tax incentive for small employers who
provide health care for their employees.
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House Bill 2555
- This bill would exclude Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) sold to
small employers from community-rating laws and also establish a
program within the Basic Health Plan for qualified low-income
employees to receive a subsidy to participate in a HSA offered by
their employer. Existing community-rating laws do not provide
insurance companies the ability to increase (or decrease) premiums
for a particular plan based on each plans performance, and thus are
a barrier to the success of HSAs (and other consumer-directed health
care plans).
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House Bill 2556
– This would require DSHS to submit a waiver to the federal
government to reform our Medicaid program by incorporating
marketplace principles, consumer choice, and personal responsibility
into the program.
“These bills begin true
health care reform in this state,” Hinkle said. “And these are just the
beginning. We’ve introduced a whole package of reform bills, some left
over from last session.”
# # #
For more information, contact:
John Handy, Assistant
Communications Director - (360) 786-5758
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