The politics and economics of healthcare -
in this Washington and that one
In a previous post, DJ asked the question:
What are the practical economic impacts of the Stupak amendment limiting coverage of abortions? There are some persuasive politics at play, but will this have a measurable “real world” impact on plans, providers or patients?
Let’s take a look. (more…)
Last week, four Snohomish County representatives, Marko Liias (WA-21st), John McCoy (WA-38th), Mary Helen Roberts (WA-21st) and Mike Sells (WA-34st), wrote a letter of support for a public option in healthcare reform to Unites States Congressman Rick Larsen (2nd).
“We write to express our enthusiastic support for the inclusion of a strong public option in the health care reform bill presently being debated in the House. As state legislators, we would be remiss if we did not voice our opinions on the current debate,” the letter states. “A strong public option is a critical fallback for the many different groups that would be covered under the reform plan.”
They go on to say, “The implementation of a strong public option would create incentives for insurance companies to charge competitive rates and become more efficient. Lower prices and better efficiency would benefit everyone, including those that presently have health insurance. In addition, the competition created by a strong public option would incentivize insurance plans to focus more on primary care and preventative medicine, leading to improved health outcomes and better care.”
Today Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, released the first draft of that committee’s long-awaited healthcare reform bill.
You can read the entire draft of the bill here.
If you do not want to read the 223 page draft of the bill, read Baucus’ 18 page “Framework for Comprehensive Health Reform.”
State Senator Karen Keiser, chair of the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee, hosted a series of four healthcare town halls last month with Representative Eileen Cody. You can read about those here and here.
This afternoon Senator Keiser responded to last night’s healthcare address by President Barack Obama and the effects of healthcare reform on Washington State.
The health reform goals outlined in the President’s speech, ─slowing health care costs, covering the insured and providing families with more security and stability─ are goals we have worked for years to achieve at the state level. Those are Washington state values. It’s clear we have a strong federal partner to help us solve this critical issue.
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) supports the public health insurance option, while over 850 individual states legislators from all fifty states with the Progressive States Network have called for any federal reform bill to include a public health insurance option, strong affordability protections, and shared employer responsibility for health care costs.
More than 876,000 Washingtonians have no coverage and many others are underinsured. They are just one illness or accident away from financial ruin. We need reform now, not yelling and screaming. Going forward, we need to tone down the rhetoric and focus on the issue at hand ─fixing our broken health care system.
States will be responsible for implementing any plan Congress passes and the President signs, so we will have a lot of work to do during the 2010-2011 sessions.
We’ve been working on health reform for years in our state with good success. Having the backing and support of the federal government will help us reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the industry and provide our citizens with the coverage they need and deserve.
I was glad to see bogus claims such as death panels debunked. The President set a new tone with the speech. As chair of the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee, I hope that spirit of cooperation will be evident at upcoming health reform hearings in both chambers of the state legislature.
On August 31st, Congressman Brian Baird of Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, held a healthcare town hall at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Olympia, Washington.
On Thursday evening at Westlake Park in Seattle, around 3000 energetic people participated in a rally supporting healthcare insurance reform.
Many battled Seahawks traffic to make it to the event in downtown Seattle.
Reverend Lesley Braxton led the crowd in a moment of silence for the late Senator Ted Kennedy and United States Congressman Jim McDermott spoke to many of his Seattle constituents.
Congressman McDermott said, “I’m sure it must make [Kennedy’s] heart feel good to see that the dream has not died. It is our dream to have health insurance that can never be taken away. I’ll do my part in the Congress, but he and I need you to keep showing up and making people aware.”
Though many “teabaggers” were to attend and disrupt the event, their numbers were comparatively negligible.
For more photos of the rally, visit healthcareWA on Facebook and click the Photos tab.
On Sunday, Senator Maria Cantwell appeared on “State of the Union with John King” and discussed Medicare reimbursements and bending the healthcare cost curve.
I just love it when she says:
“Well, you’re not going to get an argument about bending the cost curve from me because my state almost subsidizes the rest of the healthcare system because we’re so efficient and the rest of the country delivers more inefficient care.”
Here’s the rest of the video:
Yesterday Congressman Jim McDermott participated in an online question and answer session on healthcare policy reform. Read the conversation here from the Seattle Times.