WashingtonCAN - 2007 Legislative Session

2007 Legislative Session

Secure Health Care tops Washington CAN’s 2007 Legislative Agenda!

2007 Legislative Priorities: Secure Health Care Campaign.

Secure access to quality, affordable health care should be guaranteed to all Washington residents. A five year plan establishing this guarantee should be enacted during the 2007 session beginning with:

Cover All Kids. Every child should have health care coverage. In Washington, the Legislature and Governor have taken significant steps over the past two years to help families get the health coverage they need, including setting the admirable goal of ensuring coverage for every child in Washington by 2010. The investments we've made are paying off: over the past two years the number of uninsured children in our state dropped 23%. This year, it's time to finish the job by passing comprehensive legislation that creates accessible coverage options for all children so that they can get the health care they need to grow and thrive.

Victory: This year, the Washington Legislature passed Washington CAN! backed legislation, SB 5093, historic legislation aimed at covering all children.

Support Small Business. More than 70% of the uninsured are members of working families. The majority of these work in small businesses, the backbone of the state's economy. Last year the legislature created a program to subsidize the premiums for quality coverage for low-income small business employees. In 2007, legislators should fund this program and expand it to cover more small business workers. The state should also lower the rates for quality coverage by creating a publicly financed pool to share catastrophic risk.

Invest in Public Programs that Work. The Basic Health program was established in 1987 to provide no-frills, state-subsidized, health insurance to low-income people who would otherwise not have access to insurance coverage. Despite broad public support and a dedicated funding stream, legislators have yet to sufficiently fund Basic Health even at the modest levels approved two to one by voter initiative. Public programs like Basic Health provide affordable quality coverage with administrative costs far below private insurers. The legislature should invest in these programs as a way to make coverage available for all on a sliding scale. Basic Health and all public programs should include coverage for interpreter services so that quality care is available to everyone in our state, regardless of English ability.

Take Action: Washington CAN is asking the legislature to restore 20,000 Basic Health Plan slots in the 2007 budget.

Reform the Private Insurance Industry. Private insurance companies in Washington maintain administrative costs over twice as high as public programs; amass millions in excessive surplus (over $800 million in 2003 and 2004); and create coverage limits and fine-print designed to limit their risk and cherry-pick only the healthiest for good coverage. Government can be a better watchdog over how private insurance companies operate by developing reasonable measures to control administrative costs, limit excessive surplus, and improve the sharing of risk to ensure that all residents have access to quality coverage at a fair price.

Other Washington CAN! Legislative Priorities:

Reign-in Predatory Payday Lending. Washington CAN supports legislation to limit the amount of interest that can be charged for payday loans to 36%. Recent federal legislation establishes this 36% limit, but only for loans to military personnel. Currently some of these loans accumulate interest rates as high as 300% and can be especially troublesome for low income borrowers.

Voting Rights. Former felons often are unable to vote even after serving their sentences because of economic penalties and fines. This confusing system helped throw the last Governor's election into turmoil. Washington CAN supports legislation to restore voting rights when sentences are finished, just as is done in Oregon and other states. This would bring clarity to the election system and eliminate a practice that discriminates especially against people of color.

Mental Health Parity. Insurance companies are not now required to offer mental health benefits on a par with benefits for physical health for many of their products. Two years ago the Legislature enacted a requirement that mental health parity be offered in large group markets. Washington CAN supports extending mental health parity to small businesses and individuals.

Victory: Washington CAN! backed legislation, HB 1460, that will expand mental health parity to individuals and small businesses passed the legislature with broad bi-partisan majorties.

Tax Fairness. Washington CAN! supports a reformed tax system that is fair, stable, transparent and sufficient to pay for the public investments needed to create opportunity and security for all Washington State residents. In the 2007 legislative session we urge the Legislature to: require a tax expenditure report alongside the budget, so that the cost of tax preferences are weighed fairly and directly against public investments we could make in high priority areas like education, health care and public transit; approve a new surcharge on the enormous profits of big oil companies and use the funds to relieve the financial strain of high energy costs on public goods and services and invest in clean energy alternatives; and assure that changes to the property tax both provide a sufficient local tax base (which a 1% cap would not) and make the tax fairer for lower-income homeowners.