Precious little we do as families or as a society carries the significance of decisions made in the health care arena.
And make decisions we must, with the raging crisis in availability and affordability of coverage. Many adults without insurance are small business owners and their full-time workers, and costs are a major reason so many citizens, businesses and governments are under the economic gun.
In recent years, the Washington Legislature has worked to make health care more available and affordable. We’ve endeavored to cut the general cost of coverage by cutting the specific cost of prescriptions. We’ve passed landmark legislation to phase in coverage for all children and continued our commitment to the Washington Basic Health Plan.
Further, we launched a strategy to help thousands of people who are just an injury or illness away from bankruptcy.
We know small employers with low-wage workers face the greatest challenges in finding affordable coverage for their businesses and employees. The new Washington Health Insurance Partnership program will use a public-private partnership to make it easier for employers to provide insurance for more of their employees.
The supplemental budget passed last session has funding for premium assistance to low-wage workers enrolled in HIP.
Next January, HIP will begin enrolling businesses and employees and coverage will start a few months later. The legislature modified the program to allow a phased implementation.
If a majority of employees at small businesses earn low wages, they will be able to enroll to purchase coverage through the partnership, making it simpler and more affordable to arrange for coverage.
The Health Insurance Partnership Board will designate a range of health-benefit plans for the small-group market – with multiple deductible and copayment options – and a premium-assistance subsidy will be available for low-income enrollees.
The board also will determine the minimum employer-premium contribution.
The HIP program came from recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Costs and Access, which wrote a five-year plan to substantially improve access to health care.
As of four years ago, there were 600,000 uninsured Washingtonians younger than 65 – more than 13 percent of adults and more than 6 percent of kids younger than 16.
The price of health care is climbing faster than businesses, governments and, most importantly, individual citizens can afford.
Employer-provided health coverage has fallen from 71 percent in 1993 to about 66 percent. Between 1999 and 2004, the annual increase in premiums for small businesses rose far faster than either gross business income or wages.
No one knows better than Southwest Washington businesses what a challenge it is making a payroll – and making the right decisions for employee health and well-being. Just as certainly, we fell into this health-care mess together – and I believe together we can climb out of it.
More information is available at the HIP website: https://www.hip.hca.wa.gov/. If you would like notification when HIP enrollment applications become available, call 360-923-2942 or send your name and address to Health Insurance Partnership, P.O. Box 42707, Olympia, WA, 98504-2707.
Jim Moeller is a Washington State representative who represents the 49th Legislative District. He is a member of several legislative committees, including the House Health Care Committee.
