Forum addresses health coverage

When Dr. George Rice retired, the Spokane County Medical Society’s insurance carrier continued offering him coverage until he qualified for Medicare.

His retirement plans, however, hit a risky financial snag: His wife no longer qualified as an insurance participant.

To make matters worse, insurers in Washington had quit selling individual policies because of a spat with regulators that took legislative action to resolve. The entire episode set up a tense two-year coverage gap for the Rice family that served as a reminder of what 778,000 Washington residents face: the daily hope that they won’t get sick or hurt.

Rice shared his story with about 200 people at an AARP meeting in Spokane on Wednesday to learn about health care policy proposals.

The powerful special interest group for people over the age of 55 is collecting personal stories as it prepares to try to influence the health care reform debate.

“Our nation’s health care system is broken. We keep paying more but getting less,” said AARP state President John Barnett.

He criticized politicians for saying plenty and doing little to ease the cost and accessibility of health care.

In a series of impromptu audience polls, most people indicated they had family or friends who are without insurance.

Doug Shadel, AARP’s Washington state executive director, debunked the myth that most uninsured Americans are unemployed deadbeats, pointing out that 27.6 million workers do not have health insurance. That’s 60 percent of all uninsured people.

Skyrocketing insurance and health care costs have resulted in the erosion of employer-based health care plans, said AARP’s Seattle-based spokesman Jason Erskine.

The current health care environment also has chipped away at other employer-based benefits such as company pension plans, said Shadel.

A troubling trend for future retirees can be found in a study published last year by big insurer Kaiser Permanente, which reported that from 1997 to 2007 the number of employers offering retiree health coverage dropped 50 percent. This makes early retirement, before Medicare eligibility, a far-fetched dream for many workers.

The Rices eventually found individual coverage. They are paying a $536 monthly premium for the policy until eligible for Medicare enrollment this summer.

The premium for an average individual health plan in Washington was $339 to $403 in 2006, according to AARP. Some comprehensive plans cost as much as $1,200 a month, a budget-buster for many people.

About 50 percent of personal bankruptcies are owed to medical bills, a statistic that stings hospitals stuck absorbing the costs.

Spokane resident Jeannie Barber told the audience of her health problems, including breast cancer treatments and gall bladder surgery, which left her with crippling medical bills and unable to keep her new job.

She was able to qualify for Medicaid and now works for a local nonprofit agency.

“What I went through could happen to anybody,” she said. “It’s not because you’re lazy or careless.

“We’re really all just one major illness or injury away from financial ruin.”