Senate Leaders Say Ads Won’t Deter Reform

Radio advertisements attacking Washington’s health care overhaul law and selected senators who support it will not stop the Senate from fighting to preserve much of the law, Senate leaders said Thursday.

“If they’re counting on us to be intimidated, they’re making a mistake,” Senate Majority Leader Marcus Gaspard, D-Puyallup, said of the ads running on some radio stations on both sides of the state.

House Health Care Chairman Phil Dyer, R-Issaquah, defended the ads, saying, “They tell the truth and they mention the senators who can make a difference.”

Dyer is pushing legislation to largely repeal the landmark Health Care Services Act of 1993 and leave health care to the marketplace.

The law, already crippled by congressional inaction last year, is intended to bring affordable health care to all state residents by mid1999. A similar national proposal pushed by President Clinton failed.

The ads, sponsored by a coalition of industry groups including retail, restaurants and liquor, are modeled on the “Harry and Louise” TV ads sponsored last year by the insurance industry to attack Clinton’s proposal.

The radio ads contend that state government “has put itself squarely in charge of your health care” through the 1993 law. The ads also assert the law will lower wages and force people out of work, adding, “If not good enough for the rest of the country, it’s not good enough for Washington.

The ads tell listeners to contact a half-dozen senators to voice concern.

Senate Health Committee Chairman Kevin Quigley, D-Lake Stevens, said the ads are dishonest for a number of reasons. He said the state does not put itself in charge of a person’s health care, but tries to ensure that all citizens eventually get access to reasonably priced health insurance and a basic set of benefits that all insurers must offer.