I’m excited that national health care reform finally passed — not because that means our work is over, but because Washington state will get more freedom to innovate and more support from the other Washington.
What we do now will affect health care for decades. I think it’s important that we get it right.
Some say we should fight reform, taking the issue to the courts for years. I believe that would be a huge mistake and a wasted opportunity. Legal experts say challenging reform in the courts has virtually no chance, yet it would take up valuable time and taxpayer dollars.
Instead of a political fight, we should work together to fix problems in health care so more workers get health coverage for their families.
Change can frighten people, so I understand why people who have health insurance might worry about reform.
But if you have health coverage and are happy with it, nothing will happen to you — except better consumer protections and the ability to cover your kids until they’re 26.
Putting our energies into fighting reform is a waste. Say we somehow stopped national reform after years and years of court cases. Protecting the status quo on health care means protecting skyrocketing costs for businesses and taxpayers. That’s not only stupid it’s unsustainable.
Health care costs are expected to grow another 71 percent in the next decade. If we do nothing, by 2019 the average family will pay $22,522 for health insurance.
Do you want to pay that much more simply to keep what you have today? I don’t.
We can do better.
Innovation is the smarter better option for Washington state.
For years, our state has led the way on health care reform. We created the Basic Health Plan and the Health Insurance Partnership, a prescription drug program for seniors and Apple Health to make sure every child — rich or poor — has health coverage.
Yet we could have done more, if Washington, D.C. hadn’t told us no when our state applied for waivers to try creative reforms.
Now we are free to innovate. National health care reform isn’t a top-down system. It encourages each state to find new ways of providing better health care.
We should embrace this chance for real change.
The old model of getting your health coverage at work is dying. Only 62 percent of our state’s workers received health coverage in 2007. Most — 70 percent — of people without health insurance have jobs. They’re not unemployed or homeless. They’re workers just like you and me, and the lack of health coverage is a hidden tax we all pay when uninsured families are forced into the emergency room.
Innovation and reform works. It’s worked for kids, with Washington state close to our goal of making sure every child has health care. It’s worked for working families buying affordable health care on the Basic Health Plan.
We’re good at reform in Washington state.
The media makes it seem like the only question is how hard we should fight each other on health care and who this helps politically if they run for governor. I think that’s a pointless distraction. Health care is serious. It’s not a political football. Your health, and your family’s health, is priceless and irreplaceable.
What we need to talk about is how we can join together to find solutions. Everybody needs health care: Republicans and Democrats, libertarians and independents, young and old.
We don’t need another manufactured fight for talk radio hosts. We need creative ways to solve the problems in health care that affect every business and every family in Washington state.
What would you change? How could we do things differently to save money or give health care to more families?
I’d like to hear your ideas. We have work to do.