Washington Community Action Network

It’s Time to Level the Health Insurance Playing Field

All Washington Businesses Should Pay their Fair Share

Our health care system isn’t working. Washington’s uninsured rate has reached 900,000. Tens of thousands of children have lost coverage due to state budget cuts. And more and more jobs are coming with no health benefits attached.

Employers that don’t cover workers profit at everyone else’s expense. Many large, profitable businesses are denying health benefits to employees – then telling them that our public health coverage programs are their only option. Our tax dollars should support health care for people who need it – not big business profit.

All workers should be able to get health coverage, no matter how much they earn. Health insurance shouldn’t be just for high-wage workers. We need to keep health insurance affordable for all.

All large employers should be making a fair contribution. It’s time for all large businesses to provide health care coverage to their employees. The percentage of people in Washington State insured through their employer reached an all time low in 2004, dropping down to only 60.2%. Fair Share Health Care will require big businesses to insure employees or contribute to public health programs.

Tifanny Testifies to Comitee
Grassroots member Tifanny Owens testifies in front of the House Health Care Committee in Olympia in support of “Fair Share Health Care"

Fair Share Health Care: 2006 Status:

Washington CAN! and the Fair Share Health Care Coalition has been working to pass Fair Share Health Care for the past two legislative sessions. In 2006, despite a majority support from his caucus, Speaker of the House Frank Chopp shelved the Fair Share bill on February 14th, 2006 by refusing to bring it to a vote on the House floor before an important deadline. However, the Fair Share bills were given new life when Governor Christine Gregoire pledged to support “perfected” Fair Share legislation next session. Fair Share Health Care would:

Require businesses who employ more than 5,000 people to spend 9% (if for-profit) and 7% (if non-profit) of their payroll on health care coverage for their employees or pay the differences to the state.
Allow eligible expenditures made by large employers for health benefits to employees’ family members to count toward their total health care spending so that there is no incentive to reduce their dependent coverage.
Prevent high wage employers from being penalized since they can deduct payroll over 150% of average state wages before calculating their health care expenditures.
Level the playing field between most fair-minded employers who provide adequate health care and other companies, like Wal*Mart, who gain a competitive advantage by shifting their health care responsibility to the state.

Though Fair Share Health Care did not pass in 2006, the fight to improve health care offered to employees by their employers will continue in the 2007 legislative session with the support of Gov. Gregoire. Let’s make sure big businesses are pay their fair share for health care.

Public Support: The public supports a partnership approach to solving Washington’s health care crisis? A poll taken in January 2005 demonstrates the public’s belief that both the government and businesses have a responsibility when it comes to ensuring access to affordable health care. 83 percent of Washington residents believe that big businesses have an obligation to provide adequate health care coverage to their employees.

Questions and Answers on Fair Share Health Care

What is Fair Share?

Fair Share Health Care is a proposal to help us mend our broken health insurance system. It would require large employers to either provide coverage to their employees or pay a fair contribution so the state can do it. Right now we’ve got a health care race to the bottom, and we’ve got to stop it. Everyone should be paying their fair share – including big businesses.

Why do we need this now?

Our employer-based health insurance system is broken, and it’s reached crisis stage. The jobs that provide affordable coverage in this state are being replaced by no-benefit jobs. More and more families are being pushed into the ranks of the uninsured. Every one of us is worried that our family could be next – if we’re not already there.

How much will this cost me?

The health care crisis is costing you now. It’s costing you in the form of increased premiums and the rising risk that your family will go bankrupt due to a single medical emergency. It’s costing you in the toll that it’s taking on your local doctor, hospital, and emergency room. Our health care infrastructure is absorbing over $400 million due to the failure of our insurance system. That’s too high a price for any of us to pay.

How will this affect my health care?

Having a health coverage system where large employers are paying their fair share will bring more stability to our health care system. It will help relieve the financial strain on our hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices. It will help free up the emergency room. And it will help move us toward a health care system where we can all count on getting health care when we need it.

Why do we need to level the playing field for businesses?

Most large employers are providing coverage. We need to let those that aren’t know that now’s the time to step up. They cannot just abandon their employees. We need to let them know that making a fair investment in the health of Washingtonians is a requirement of doing business in our state, whether they provide coverage or the state provides it.

Could this make employers cut jobs?

We need quality jobs, and those jobs are disappearing already. They'll continue to disappear unless we take action. Most of our large employers offer coverage to their full-time employees. But the ones who don't are exerting pressure on the others. We need to stop this race to the bottom.

Could employers just pass the costs back to employees and customers?

Employers are passing those costs to us now – $400 million in uncompensated care absorbed by our hospitals, clinics, and doctors offices. Health Care for Washington Families is about telling big businesses that they can’t pump up profits by shifting costs onto their employees and the public.

Isn't this just government-run health care?

Washingtonians want their elected officials to solve our health care crisis. Washingtonians don't believe that the marketplace, the insurance companies, and the drug companies are going to sort this out. And the federal government isn't taking action, either. Families shouldn't go bankrupt because of a medical emergency. People shouldn't die because they can't afford treatment. And Washingtonians must be able to count on their state leaders to watch out for them and make sure they get the health care they need.