Health Care
WPC's Center for Health Care develops patient-centered solutions to reduce costs and improve the availability and quality of health care for businesses and individuals, providing the only detailed, independent critique of health care issues available in the Northwest.
Publications
Proposed SCHIP Expansion Relies on Shaky Finances
Congress is currently debating re-authorization of the ten-year-old State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). A straight re-authorization for a further five years would cost the treasury $25 billion, but some advocates in Congress want to expand the program’s expense to $50 billion, and one proposal is as high as $70 billion.
Recent Court Decision Highlights Failure of Government Central Planning
Earlier this year King County Superior Court Judge Bruce Hilyer handed down a decision that paved the way for Swedish Medical Center to build a hospital in Issaquah. In June the state then issued a Certificate of Need (CON), the special permit necessary before medical facilities can be built. Why are state bureaucrats and judges, instead of doctors and patients, deciding who gets health care and where? Because in Washington it is illegal to open or expand most kinds of medical facilities without state permission.
A Capitalism Prescription
Everyone, it seems, is talking about health care. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards all have plans. Michael Moore has a documentary. No wonder – corporations fret rising health premiums, which have doubled since 2000, and families have seen their income stagnate in recent years because of rising costs. The situation will precipitously worsen in the next seven years as health spending is projected to rise to $4 trillion dollars a year, up from $2 trillion. What’s to be done with American health care? Congress needs to administer a strong dose of capitalism.
2007 Health Care Conference - Emerging Trends in Health Care
Held on June 14, Washington Policy Center’s fifth annual half-day conference on Health Care provided a valuable forum for the discussion of an undeniably important subject. Bringing together over 260 attendees—from legislators and physicians to businesspeople and insurance industry leaders—the conference began with a briefing on the relevant activity of the state legislature and moved through panels on public opinion, new trends in health care, and Medicaid reform.
Washington State Barriers to Health Savings Accounts
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a crucial tool for bringing consumerism to health care. An HSA allows an individual or family to put tax-free dollars in a savings account to use for future health care expenditures. Coupled with a high-deductible insurance policy, an HSA encourages individuals and families to consider price and quality when making health care decisions, and discourages over-consumption of health care.
Washington State Barriers to Health Savings Accounts
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a crucial tool for bringing consumerism to health care. An HSA allows an individual or family to put tax-free dollars in a savings account to use for future health care expenditures. Coupled with a high-deductible insurance policy, an HSA encourages individuals and families to consider price and quality when making health care decisions, and discourages over-consumption of health care. HSAs also compel health care providers to compete for the business of patients. This results in innovation – finding ways to make health care both less expensive and more convenient for the patient.
Limited Benefit Plans
One of the main areas policymakers are focusing on is moving people without insurance to join those with coverage. Forty-six states have found one proven way to provide health insurance to thousands of their uninsured citizens. With a simple change in state law, Washington can join nearly every other state and offer what is called a fixed or limited benefit plan. These plans are one of the fastest growing segments in the health care market across the country. For most people, this is their first type of health insurance.
Price Controls Threaten Popular Drug Discount Program
We have all heard the saying if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Well that is exactly what Congress is planning to do to the new Medicare drug benefit. The House of Representatives just passed H.R. 4, which says the Secretary of Health and Human Services "shall negotiate" prices for the Medicare Part D drug program.
The Revamped "Fair Share Act" is Still Wrong in Principle and Practice
Two new proposals would require all companies in Washington with 1,000 or more employees to provide health insurance benefits to their employees or pay compensation costs or a fine to the state treasury if an employee receives health insurance from the state. Employers would be required to report the number of employees to the Health Care Authority and the Department of Social and Health Services, which would then cross-reference the roster with those appearing on the state’s Basic Health Plan (BHP) and Medical Assistance (MA) program rosters but companies would not know which employees are on the state’s lists. Both programs are taxpayer-funded systems that help subsidize health care for low-income families. Companies with employee names on the BHP or MA list would be required to either pay a fine or pay the employee’s health care costs to the state. In some cases the state could levy both assessments.
Analysis of the Health Care Connector Bill
The intent section of this proposal expresses laudable goals – to create a state-run Connector agency to link more people in Washington to affordable health care coverage. The major weakness of the proposal, however, is that it forces its targeted population to drop any coverage they may already have, and choose among just four or five pre-determined plans, even though a simple internet search already provides information about hundreds of existing health plans. Given these limits, the new agency runs the risk of becoming better known as The Constrictor, rather than a connector.
