On Wednesday, June 3rd, the Washington Policy Center sponsored their 7th annual Health Care Conference. A morning panel of Representatives Eileen Cody (D) and Doug Ericksen (R), along with Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) and Department of Retirement Systems Director Steve Hill and moderator Allen Schauffler, discussed healthcare policy and administration in Washington State.

During the panel, HCA Director Hill said of the Basic Health Plan, “This is an outstanding program and we should stop tearing it apart with political extremism.”

Hill also said, “The elephant in the room is Medicare,” of healthcare politics in Washington.

Representative Ericksen told the crowd in Seatac that Washington needs to repeal Certificate of Need requirements to free business, instead of preventing it, as the case is now. In reply, Hill said, “Without CON (Certificate of Need), healthcare would be a pig trough.”

Representative Cody, who is the Chair of the House committee on Health Care and Wellness, told the crowd, “The bad thing we did was cut universal funding of [children’s] immunizations.”

Traditionally, insurance companies do not cover children’s vaccinations because the State has provided them, free of charge, to local physicians. Thus, vaccines are not included in standard healthcare coverage plans. The State purchases vaccinations for a reduced, bulk cost of just a few cents per vaccination. By eliminating the Universal Vaccine Program, Washington State physicians will be faced with the decision of providing vaccinations without compensation or to cease supplying vaccinations all together.

Vaccine-preventable diseases have reached record lows over the past several years. This is because of the great strides we, as a State, have taken to ensure that each child is guaranteed immunizations. Without those vaccines, long-term costs associated with vaccine-preventable diseases will skyrocket.

The more children who are not vaccinated, the more likely we are to see outbreaks of preventable diseases in our neighborhoods. Eliminating vaccination funding is more than an individual concern; it is a serious community health risk. Without these vaccinations, children will be left vulnerable to diseases like Whooping Cough, Polio, Meningitis, Diphtheria, and Chicken Pox.

From a near-term financial perspective, physicians are already being burdened with reduced reimbursement rates for state funded or subsidized health plans, making it more difficult to maintain independent practices and care for their most at-risk patients.

Representative Ericksen called not creating a separate, core benefit plan for people aged 18-34, who tend to be healthier and not require many features of other benefit plans, the great failure of the legislative session.