Hasn’t our experience with COVID-19 shown us how important it is to have affordable health insurance? That’s what we keep hearing when it relates to taxpayer-sponsored or taxpayer-aided plans. 

Well, it appears the statement is only relevant sometimes. On Friday, the majority of the Senate Health and Long Term Care Committee passed Senate Bill 5149, a “covered lives assessment.” Don’t be fooled by the nice-sounding label. The bill would impose yet another tax on health insurance plans. It is expected to make premiums higher for insured Washingtonians and harder for the uninsured to get coverage they need. 

We wrote about this inequitable, unjustifiable proposed tax in January, when the revenue stream was just a twinkle in lawmakers’ eyes. At that time, it came in the form of a budget proposal from the governor.  

Gov. Jay Inslee suggested taxing people with health insurance $3.25 each per month. An original SB 5149 also reflected that price tag. On Friday, however, committee members tried to make the tax more palatable in a substitute bill, setting the per-member, per-month fee at $1.54 in 2022 and climbing to $3.07 by 2026. Lawmakers clearly think the proposed tax is harsh and are trying to soften the blow. 

The idea still isn’t palatable. The state should find other ways to fund public health than doing it on the backs of those prioritizing health insurance needs in their own budgets. 

Principle matters more than incremental pricing.  

People are trying to manage or survive all the punches the pandemic and the state shut-down have thrown their way. Meanwhile, Washington’s budget is balanced, we have billions in reserves and state revenue is already up 7% under taxes we pay now.

This “covered lives assessment” is an unneeded, hidden tax. Employers and consumers pay enough for health insurance, without state leaders making it even more expensive with this misguided bill.