Health care reform gets unanimous backing

OLYMPIA – The state Senate unanimously passed legislation requested by Gov. Chris Gregoire that would reform health care in Washington state Friday night, but not before Democrats hurriedly made some concessions to Republicans throughout the day to get consensus.

The omnibus bill is based on recommendations made by the governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Costs and Access, which made it the state’s goal for every Washington resident to have access to affordable and high-quality health care within five years.

“There’s a lot of attention and effort going into these efforts,” Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, chair of the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee, said in an interview after the vote. “I’m very excited. I haven’t seen this much interest in health care reform in a decade.”

Currently, almost 600,000 of Washington’s 6.5 million residents do not have health care coverage.

The measure now heads to the House, which is considering a similar measure. Sen. Cheryl Pflug, R-Maple Valley, the ranking minority member on the Health and Long-Term Care Committee, said Republicans wouldn’t support the measure until Keiser agreed to changes, made late in the day.

The main concession was agreeing to an amendment put forward by Sen. Linda Evans Parlette, R-Wenatchee, that would allow fewer mandates for small business employers to buy insurance.

Pflug said other changes that made her more supportive included giving patients more information on procedures before they give consent for the care, and making information from the University of Washington health sciences library available online.

The Senate also passed a measure that would allow people without health insurance to go to a primary physician and pay a flat fee for care.

Pflug and others argued against the measure, saying it was not fair to insurance carriers and created a situation where the market place was not level.

The flat fee bill passed on a 29-18 vote.