Most Unhappy With Medical System
The politicians who killed Washington’s landmark health-care law have often asserted that the private sector, if left alone, would fix what ails the state’s medical care system.
But a significant chunk of state voters believes otherwise.
Nearly three-fourths of registered voters contacted in a recent survey believe state government has a responsibility to make sure that health care is available to everyone.
“The system isn’t working. I don’t know how to fix it, but I’m not really happy with it,” said Trina Henifin, 22, a Bellingham homemaker interviewed about the survey results.
Her family’s insurance doesn’t cover prescription drugs or some doctor visits, she said. “If the government stepped in and forced insurance companies to be fairer, we’d be better off.”
The survey results could lend ammunition to health-care reform supporters.
But foes of health-care reform contend the question upon which the survey results were based was too broad to demonstrate anything more than general unease over the state of the current health-care system.
The 1995 Legislature largely repealed the 1993 Health Care Reform Act, the nation’s first “managed competition” plan. It was similar to a proposal President Clinton failed to push through Congress.
In the survey, randomly selected registered voters were asked to respond to the following statement: “State government has a responsibility to make sure that health care is available to everyone.”
A total of 72.3 percent of the survey respondents agreed with the statement, while 22.9 percent disagreed. About 5 percent had no opinion.
“I’m certainly not surprised at the numbers. I always believed that the majority of voters in this state are not happy with our health-care system,” said state Sen. Kevin Quigley, D-Lake Stevens. “I never believed that the majority of voters wanted to do away with health-care reform.”
He was a top proponent of the reform act, which aimed to make sure every citizen had affordable health care by the end of this century, to be financed partly by employers.
Asked about the results, Dorothy Ainslie of Spokane said she sided with the minority.
“I’m not sure where you get the idea that it is the responsibility of the state to supply health care,” Ainslie, 71, said. “I still feel that maintaining your own health is an individual responsibility.”
Enid Layes, who led the fight against the law as a former lobbyist for the Association of Washington Business, said the only conclusion that can be drawn from the survey is that “people are worried. They’re uneasy about health care.”