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Small business, consumers
need more
affordable health care choices
By Rep. Bill
Hinkle
It’s no secret that the
cost of health care is exploding. Double-digit annual increases for
insurance premiums are stretching family budgets and threatening the
viability of businesses. Many small employers cannot afford to offer
insurance coverage to their employees and individuals have little choice
if they wish to buy coverage on their own.
Health care also is the fastest growing segment of the state budget, now
consuming 33 percent of state spending. In 2007, the state will spend
$1.48 billion (81 percent) more on medical care than in 2000. That’s
because Washington’s coffers were flush this year as a result of our
state’s rapidly growing economy. And the majority party couldn’t help
itself. It spent the entire $2.2 billion surplus including spending $33
million to increase enrollment in taxpayer subsidized health care
programs.
It didn’t have to be that way. The Legislature missed a golden
opportunity to rein in its own health care spending and to create more
choices for individuals and small businesses. The Blue Ribbon Commission
on Health Care Costs and Access, of which I was a member, offered a
comprehensive package of recommendations to address our state’s health
care challenges. Unfortunately, what the Legislature approved was a
watered down package that fails to get to the core of the problem.
Individuals, not the government, should determine how they will receive
and pay for their health care needs, including the benefit and cost
sharing design of their health insurance. Government’s role in health
care should be limited to facilitating and subsidizing health care for
the truly needy, the poor and disabled.
Employers should be encouraged to provide health insurance for their
employees, not mandated by the government to provide it at a specified
level. Competition and market forces are necessary to control costs and
improve quality.
The legislation that came out of the 2007 session fails to follow those
guiding principles. No relief or incentives are provided for small
businesses to offer coverage to their employees. Options for individuals
remain miniscule.
More people are being herded into expensive government programs. Health
care decisions are being taken away from consumers and turned over to
government bureaucrats.
For example, state health care coverage for children is being expanded
to include all children living in families with incomes up to 300
percent of the federal poverty level. This means that the children in a
family of four with an income up to $62,000 per year will be eligible
for taxpayer subsidized health care coverage. $62,000 – this is more
than the median income in our region!
Rather than expanding government dependency into the middle class, we
should be facilitating private sector solutions to our health care
issues.
Insurance “reforms” in the 1990s drove dozens of insurance companies out
of Washington, limiting choices and artificially raising insurance
premiums. As choice disappeared, the inevitable calls for more
government coverage rose. We have been walking down that disastrous path
ever since.
House Republicans want to help small businesses provide health insurance
plans to workers and families that are flexible, low cost and
mandate-free. We will continue to push for a business and occupation tax
deduction for small businesses that offer health insurance to their
employees and seek to create an environment that is conducive to
expanding the number of insurance companies doing business in our state.
We also will work to reduce the number of state mandates for coverage
currently in effect. Insurance consumers should be free to select from a
menu of health care options that best serve their needs. One size does
not fit all.
The Blue Ribbon Commission on which I served got to the heart of the
matter. Unfortunately, the governor and her supporters elected to tinker
around the margins rather than taking the steps necessary to encourage a
private sector solution to a growing problem.
We have to do better than that.
# # #
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Rep. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, is the ranking Republican on the House
Health Care and Wellness Committee.
For more information, contact:
John
Handy, Assistant Director: (360) 786-5758
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