February 3, 2010 in City

Medical officials decry plans to cut Basic Health

Concerns include sicker people, more emergencies

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Colin Mulvany photo

During a press conference Tuesday, Elaine Couture, president and chief operating officer of Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, right, listens as Dr. Dave Bare, medical director of the Community Health Association of Spokane, talks about the impacts that proposed state budget cuts would have on local health care.
(Full-size photo)

Health care executives say looming state budget cuts threaten to push thousands more people into the ranks of the uninsured and further strain the region’s clinics and hospitals.

The worries about gutting the state’s Basic Health plan echo a common refrain: Deep cuts are unacceptable and should be partly offset by state tax and fee increases. But wringing more money from taxpayers at a time of high unemployment, pay cuts and shrinking retirement savings would be a difficult sell.

Dave Bare, medical director of the Community Health Association of Spokane (CHAS) clinics, said removing another 70,000 people from the state-subsidized Basic Health plan will backfire. People will put off doctor appointments until they are very ill and then turn to expensive emergency room visits, he said.

Bare said the waiting list to enroll in Basic Health exceeds 91,000 people – most of whom work or own small businesses and pay minimal premiums. Geoff White, owner of the Perry Street Café, described during a news conference Tuesday how he was able to afford knee replacement surgery using Basic Health. The surgery has enabled him to operate a successful business.

Elaine Couture, president and chief operating officer for Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, said hospitals in Washington state already hold down costs and accept fewer tax dollars than most states. Only five states have lower hospital admission rates, she said, giving credit to programs such as Basic Health for encouraging preventive care.

It’s those numbers that have made Washington a model for efficiency during a time when federal health reform remains a possibility.

The budget problems threaten to unravel some of those accomplishments, Couture said. Hospitals in Washington absorbed a $310 million reduction in state funding last year and were asked to find savings and provide the same level of service.

This year, she said, hospitals have been asked to accept another $160 million in cuts.

It will mean “people will wait longer for care, get sicker and require more emergency services and hospitalization,” she said.

Couture and Bare said clinics and hospitals have clamped down on hiring new employees and saved money without having to resort to major layoffs and pay cuts that would jeopardize patient care at a time when more people need specialized care.

“There are no easy choices,” Bare said. “But these kinds of cuts to programs like Basic Health are too much.”

Three comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  ballester03 on February 03 at 1:26 a.m.

  Get medical insurance for your entire family at the best price from http://bit.ly/atGzeD

• 

  MrNatural on February 03 at 9:40 a.m.

  Fact is you get what you pay for. For many years the cost of living and the revenues have been out of balance. All you hear is tax cuts and no new taxes and cut backs to social programs so how are you going to be able to afford the quality of social systems, basic health and public health you optimally imagine for your community? Well I for one see this as the result of the short sighted greed of the Eyman initiatives just to identify one major cause for this disparity. This knee-JERK vision of saving a few private bucks in the short term at the expense of the communities’ health has got to be tempered with a better perspective…and mostly a better vision for all and not the bellicose self-indulgence of a few.

• 

  lewis8457 on February 03 at 9:42 a.m.

  Medical insurance is a scam. I had basic health until they raised the premium from 55 a month to 190. I had no increase in wages and was simply unable to pay.

  I go to CHAS clinic and they are fantastic even with out insurance I can afford to see a doctor if I need to. I think it was a bad call on Basic health’s part, I was one of many that paid on time and rarely if ever used the insurance. Those are the people they need paying in but not using. Leaves money available for those that do need it.

  It upsets me to no end to know I can’t afford my state low-income insurance while the president of a state college is making a million bucks a year salary.