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Affordable health care
continues to be an important local issue
The 2007 legislative
session began Jan. 8 and is scheduled to run 105 days. You will be
hearing a lot out of Olympia this year on the state budget, education
funding and what to do about the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle.
While these issues are important to me, the most important and
comprehensive task for state lawmakers is to address the structural
problems that underlay our health care system. This issue directly
affects you and your family.
The current approach to health care has led to runaway costs, limited
access, and a lack of funding. Olympia’s only solution has been to make
people more dependent on state government by providing additional
subsidies and costly mandates, while employers and small businesses are
asking for real reform and affordable options for their employees.
While I am always open to new ideas, I am convinced solutions need to be
rooted in consumer-driven reforms that put patients back in charge of
their health care decisions. There also needs to be an emphasis on
healthy living and personal responsibility. Finally, we need to take
care of people who are already enrolled in state-run health care
programs in more cost-efficient ways before we consider enrolling more
people.
As a part of the governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Costs
and Access, I have been directly involved with our health care system.
In this capacity, I have heard a lot of great ideas and feedback from
health care experts and everyday folks. What evolved from this
commission was a bipartisan, consensus approach to addressing our health
care challenges – ideas I plan to support this legislative session.
However, I was very disappointed on the first day of the session when
there was an unexpected proposal to enroll at least an additional 5,700
children of non-citizens into the state Children’s Health Program.
This program currently provides free health care to approximately 8,500
children –
costing around $10.5 million each year. Approximately 90 percent are
illegal immigrants. This population is currently admitted into the state
program if they are at 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.
The latest suggestion from House Democrats is that we raise the
eligibility level to 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. For
families of four, this translates to annual incomes up to $60,000. This
approach would stretch limited resources too far at the expense of
taxpayers, and be demoralizing to many hard-working families that are
struggling to pay for their health care insurance now. It is simply not
fair and I cannot support it.
Aside from this setback, I am confident there is broad-based support to
advance meaningful, bipartisan reforms this legislative session. My hope
is that the Blue Ribbon Commission will be a great start to something we
have not seen in a while from Olympia. Real, bipartisan reform will
translate into healthcare coverage that is affordable for you and your
family and, ultimately, healthier communities throughout the state.
If we fail at this, we will continue to face expanded dependency on
government, limited access and choice, and higher costs for taxpayers
and patients. I am confident we can change our course and create a
better state health care system for the future.
Rep. Bill Hinkle represents the 13th Legislative District. He is top
ranking Republican on the House Health Care and Wellness Committee and
was a member of the governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care
Costs and Access.
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