A new poll done by UW researchers suggests 49% of likely voters statewide are opposed to Initiative 1033 and 40% support the initiative with 10% undecided.
Among those surveyed in the Washington Poll who had already sent in their ballots, 56% said they voted “No” and 44% said they voted “Yes.”
Assuming Secretary of State Sam Reed’s prediction of 51% turnout, about 22% of voters in King County have already voted, and about 28% of voters in Snohomish County have already voted.
The poll showed 57% of respondents voting to “Approve” Referendum 71 and only 38% voting to “Reject” it.
The poll was based on interviews with 724 registered voters statewide, with a margin of error of 3.6%. Respondents were asked about Initiative 1033 first in each interview, meaning any priming effect, while unlikely, would have affected Referendum 71 results and not Initiative 1033 results.
These results constitute great news for supporters of state subsidized healthcare plans like the Basic Health Plan, which currently provides reduced cost health insurance for 103,687 low-income Washingtonians and children. Though, according to Health Care Authority estimates, that number could be reduced to 67,000 in 2010 at a cost of $234.16 per life, per month.
Passage of Initiative 1033 would almost surely mean further cuts to state subsidized programs like the Basic Health Plan. It would also mean long-term increases in healthcare costs to Washington taxpayers because (1) uninsured Washingtonians will be forced to visit emergency rooms for their medical needs, which is far more expensive than clinical visits, and (2) insurers negotiate with hospitals for better rates per procedure, and uninsured people have to pay the “ticket” price for procedures (which often means a difference of thousands of dollars). Again, those bills for uninsured Washingtonians are paid for by Washington taxpayers.
Posts Tagged ‘Basic Health Plan’
New poll suggests 1033 race closer than expected
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Interview of the Week: Max Vekich brings history in healthcare to Seattle Port election
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Max Vekich, candidate for Seattle Port Commission Position 4, has been active in healthcare issues since he began his political career.
He has been a political activist since the age of 18, when he first became a precinct committee officer for the Democratic Party.
At 28, he was elected to the Washington State Legislature as a Democratic representative from the 35th district, which covers parts of Grays Harbor, Thurston, Mason and Kitsap counties. He spent eight years in the Legislature, 1983-1990, the last four of which he sat on the House Committee on Health Care alongside now U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell.
After being elected to the Legislature, Vekich says, he received a shocking and saddening introduction to healthcare issues when he saw five children in the Bremerton area with medical expenses that topped half a million dollars before they were even six months old.
This experience inspired Vekich’s “First Steps” legislation, passed into law in 1989.
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Washington legislators hold second healthcare town hall
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
On Tuesday night in Bellevue, Senator Karen Keiser (D-Kent), chair of the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee, and Representative Eileen Cody (D-Burien), chair of the House Health Care & Wellness Committee, held their second in a series of four healthcare town halls.
Of the first two events in the series, Senator Keiser said she believes, “These are marvelous. Democracy in action.”
Thus far the town halls have gone smoothly and have been largely disruption free. That is in stark contrast to what people have seen from national news sources. “People have a lot of concerns,” said Senator Keiser. “It’s a wonderful development, they’ve been misrepresented.”
This town hall attracted several more members of the political world, including Senator Rodney Tom (D-Bellevue), Representative Ross Hunter (D-Bellevue), Steve Hill, Administrator of the Health Care Authority, and former State Representative Max Vekich, who is currently running to be a Seattle Port Commissioner.
Senator Keiser and Representative Cody emphasized the need for a transition to evidence based methods in healthcare policy, which will help reduce healthcare costs. Keiser cited the $55 million in savings in 2008 on prescription drugs when the drugs were compared by patient outcomes and the effectiveness of the drugs rather than their cost.
Washington legislators are now working with Congressman Jay Inslee to adapt some of that language for H.R. 3200, the healthcare reform bill from the House of Representatives.
Federal healthcare reforms would include consumer protections that prevent rescission, the practice of taking insurance away from consumers after they have become ill, extending health benefits of younger adults that are on their parents’ health plan to the age of 26, ending gender discrimination, and ending cost-sharing for preventative care, such as expensive colonoscopies.
Another key theme in the discussion was aligning physician incentives to patient outcomes. Currently, if a patient has the wrong arm amputated and has to go back in to get the other one removed, the hospital would be paid for both operations. Keiser said that under the new system, “Avoidable errors will not be reimbursed.” That would mean only “paying the hospital when you have recovery” she said.
Confronting popular misnomers in the media, Keiser assured the crowd, “There will be no death panels. There has never been a death panel.”
The pair also confronted reimbursement inequities around the country. Keiser said, Washington is 11% under the national average for Medicare reimbursements, and Florida is 13% over the national average. Yet Washington State has better outcomes, said Keiser.
Currently, taxpayers and people with health insurance pay for those who do not have health insurance but utilize medical facilities. “Healthcare is a system of cost shifting,” said Keiser. “We pay one way or the other.”
Washington Basic Health Plan increasing rates
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009Washington State’s Basic Health Plan will no longer cut 40,000 people, but will instead increase monthly rates by about $25 and increase the annual deductible from $150 to $250.
The original idea was to cut 40,000 people from the program to save the state $250 million dollars. Washington has had to cut programs to make up for the nearly $9 billion budget deficit.