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GUEST COMMENTARY

Health care reform can't wait

By James Eachus

More than a million people in Washington will spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care this year. Individual premiums are growing at an astonishing rate. Businesses can't afford to offer their employees quality health care. Doctors are under increasing marketing pressure to switch to more expensive drugs that drive up our health care costs with no benefit to the patients. So few doctors are entering the primary care field that 20 percent of the job openings for primary care providers in Washington go unfilled.

It's clear the system isn't working. It's time to create solutions for health care reform in our state. Actually, it's been time for that for years.

A coalition of more than 65 organizations statewide, representing health care providers, small businesses, labor and others, is speaking out loudly this year about the need for health care reform. The Healthy Washington Coalition is addressing both overall reform and critical immediate needs. Our elected officials need to understand that every Washingtonian deserves the same quality, affordable health care that they enjoy.

The Healthy Washington Coalition is supporting legislation in Olympia this session that will create a Citizens' Working Group. Upon creation of this group, Gov. Chris Gregoire would appoint nine Washingtonians, who would analyze health care reform with the filter that each proposal must ensure high quality, affordable health care for all Washingtonians. An acceptable plan must include choice of providers and comprehensive coverage, not just bare bones. And it must support shared responsibility among individuals, employers and government.

But we can't wait for overall reform. We need to take steps this legislative session to address:

n Affordable choices for small businesses. Owners of small businesses throughout the state continue to struggle to offer quality health plans to their employees. Legislation the coalition supports this session would expand their options and provide subsidies for lower income employees (e.g. a single person making less than $20,000 per year, or a sole provider for a family of four making less than $40,000).

n The shortage of primary care providers in our state. More then 40 percent of the state's 39 counties are facing a shortage of primary care providers. The first step to address this is to provide incentives for doctors entering the field. Expansion of the State Professional Loan Repayment and Scholarship Program is one immediate solution.

n The need for prescription privacy and the end of data mining practices for marketing purposes. Pharmaceutical companies spend more than $3 billion annually to purchase the prescribing histories of physicians without their knowledge or consent. This practice erodes patient-doctor privacy and drives up overall health care costs.

n The insurance commissioner's ability to regulate rates in the individual market. Rates for individual health care coverage have increased an average of 16 percent annually since 2001. Last year, the largest health plan in the individual health market, Regence, filed a 19.4 percent rate increase. The second largest individual plan, Lifewise Health Plan, has filed a rate increase of 22.5 percent. We need to restore the insurance commissioner's oversight of the individual health insurance market and restore his authority to disapprove excessive rate hikes.

The one bright spot in our health care picture is the legislation passed last year to cover all kids. The Healthy Washington Coalition will stay committed to seeing that legislation implemented.

The kind of political and community leadership that brought us this commitment to kids needs to be applied to all our state's residents. We have the opportunity to show vision and leadership with a creative response to the people's needs.



James Eachus is a software developer. For 25 years, he and his wife have owned EDP System Services, Inc., a software company in Lynnwood with seven employees.