Health Care

Health Care Reform

This year Congress and President Obama accomplished something no other administration has been able to achieve in 100 years ─ substantive health reform.

The bills have enormous implications for our state as demand for health and long term care services continues to increase. In sum, we believe the legislation will help preserve the state’s insurance safety net, strengthen small businesses and provide important consumer protections.

In addition, the legislation augments health reforms we’ve made in Washington State, such as allowing state workers to keep children up to 26 years of age on their policies and banning gender discrimination.

Two bills were used to pass federal reform. They include:

• HR 3590 - The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  This bill has the vast majority of key pieces of reform and was signed into law on March 23, 2010;
• The House also passed HR 4872 - the Health Care Reform Reconciliation Act.  This bill, which the Senate must also approve, contains elements that the House and Senate developed to "reconcile" the differences between the two chambers.

Key Benefits for Washington Small Businesses

• 92,500 Washington small businesses will receive tax credits to help make coverage more affordable. (Source: HealthReform.gov)
• Small businesses make up 77.7 percent of all Washington businesses, yet just 47.5 percent of these small businesses are able to offer health insurance to their employees.  (Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)

Our children

• Insurance companies will be prohibited from excluding coverage of pre-existing conditions for the 1.6 million children in Washington, starting this year. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

Washington’s young adults

• According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, "Young adults often lose their health insurance if covered under a parent or guardian’s policy at age 19 or upon graduation from high school or college." (Source: NCSL)
• Starting this year, 615,337 young adults in Washington will be able to remain covered by their parent’s insurance policy until age 26.  In addition, once the health insurance Exchanges are operational in 2014, 1 million Washingtonians under age 30 will have access to less costly catastrophic-only health insurance plans. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

Washington seniors

• The "donut hole" will be closed and Medicare benefits for 897,000 Washington seniors will be improved. (Source: HealthReform.gov)
• Reduce Medicare premiums for the 692,000 Washington seniors who are not enrolled in Medicare Advantage and will no longer subsidize these private insurance plans. (Source: U.S. Senate Finance Committee)

Washington’s uninsured

• 811,000 Washingtonians who are uninsured and 359,000 Washingtonians who purchase health insurance through the individual market will have affordable coverage options. Source: (HealthReform.gov)
• As many as 105,019 uninsured Washingtonians who have a pre-existing condition will have immediate access to affordable insurance options. (Source: Estimate using Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and HealthReform.gov)

Affordable coverage

• Up to 457,000 Washingtonians will get tax credits to help make health insurance more affordable, bringing $7.4 billion in premium and cost-sharing tax credits into Washington during the first five years of the health insurance Exchange. (Source: HealthReform.gov; Senate Finance Committee)
• Family health insurance premiums will be reduced by $1,470 - $2,090 for the same benefits, as compared to what they would be without health reform by 2016. (Source: Senate Finance Committee estimate based on CBO)

Community health centers

• More federal funding will be provided for 232 Community Health Centers in Washington. (Source: National Association of Community Health Centers)

Program expansions

• Health reform will open access to Medicaid for 411,076 newly eligible Washingtonians by expanding eligibility to non-elderly parents, childless adults, children and pregnant women with income up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. (Source: Urban Institute)
• The federal government will fully fund the cost of covering these newly eligible individuals for three years and will pay 90 percent of these costs after 2020, compared to the current contribution in Washington of 50.1 percent of costs. In total, Washington could receive $3.9 billion in federal funding during just the first five years of this coverage expansion.

Material Source:
Democratic Policy Committee Special Report: The Benefits of Health Reform in Washington