Going to bat for health care

Quality, access and affordability are the home runs for health care consumers. This year the state Senate hit six solid singles and the House hit five with one big strike out.

You hear quality, access and affordability again and again when talking to small businesses, individuals and providers. This session more than 65 groups pulled together and defined priorities that would begin to address the most critical health care needs facing people in Washington. Small businesses, children's groups, seniors' groups and consumer groups banded together with health care providers and labor under the name of the Healthy Washington Coalition.

None of the victories this session was a solid home run but we got to first base on all but one.

The biggest win is an opportunity for communities to get involved in shaping our health care future.

Health care consumers will benefit from the Legislature's agreement to set up an independent study of five different plans that provide quality affordable health care for all consumers. That legislation also created a citizens' working group that will review the results of the different proposals. The results of the study and the efforts of the working group could completely change the health care playing field.

The Healthy Washington Coalition will begin talking to people across the state about the plans under review to help develop consensus about how we can provide quality, affordable health care for all.

The Legislature also took a swing at some of the state's most critical short-term needs in health care. They made initial steps in closing the gap on Washington's shortage of primary care providers by funding a program that will help retain and provide training for primary care providers. They put quality health care coverage in reach for some employees of small businesses. They allocated additional dollars for mental health coverage, which will allow advocates for children to work to get a portion of those dollars to meet the needs for kids. They hit a solid single that might be stretched into a double by restoring the Office of the Insurance Commission's oversight authority on the individual market. That is a huge win for consumers who have seen rates for individual health care premiums skyrocket in the past several years.

The biggest strike out for consumers this session was the House's failure to pass the Prescription Privacy Bill. The Senate passed it and the House struck out. This would have had a direct effect on controlling health care costs.

The bill would have banned the sale of providers' prescribing histories to pharmaceutical companies. It passed in the Senate but failed to get the necessary votes in the House and was not brought to the floor. This is a huge loss for health care consumers. If legislators are going to get serious about making health care more affordable, they have to commit themselves to changes that may affect the pharmaceutical companies. In this case, legislators put the marketing interests of the pharmaceutical industry above those of Washington health care consumers.

The Healthy Washington Coalition will continue to go to bat to ensure that Washington has quality, affordable health care coverage for all residents. We hope to have partners in the Legislature that share that vision and invite more organizations, businesses and individuals to join in the effort to make affordable health care a reality for all of us. With the formation of a working group we hope that next year's health care pitch will be a whole new ballgame.