Legislators optimistic about health care changes

'The pieces are jelling,' Democratic senator says

BY BRAD SHANNON | THE OLYMPIAN • Published March 12, 2007

Hinkle said the concept is to let any insurer sell a small-group plan through the "partnership" but only four plans could win favored designations allowing a state subsidy for the workers. More Republicans would have voted for it, Hinkle said, if the Democrats had accepted amendments to allow even more of a free-market approach than HB 1569 now embodies.

Cody said some of the Republicans' ideas would have weakened the connector, shifting the sickest patients into the new partnership - thus driving up costs in the new program.

But at the same time, her concept is running into resistance with members of her own caucus. Eleven Democrats voted against the connector or exchange, while two Republicans crossed over in support.

Cody said she was not surprised by the defections, and she expects lawmakers to now take the next major step of comparing the two Senate and House reform concepts. The ideas could eventually land in one bill, she said.

"What it's going to look like, I don't know. But yes, all of these elements will be in there," she predicted.

Some Democrats like Majority Leader Lynn Kessler of Hoquiam are worried by the so-called connector or partnership, which mirrors an unproven effort in Massachusetts. Kessler said she is afraid it could drive up costs for employers like her husband's law firm, which pays 100 percent of its employees' health, dental and vision insurance premiums.

Even with those disagreements, change is in the air on health care. And unlike past years when the legislature locked into ideological positions, lawmakers are still talking.

"This is less of an ideological debate than it's been since I got here," Hinkle said, expressing hope that some kind of significant legislation will pass this year.

In what might be the most telling sign that things are changing, the National Federation of Independent Business is expressing optimism that lawmakers will pass a law that makes the state's health-insurance situation better.

Carolyn Logue, director of NFIB's Washington chapter, said the governor's bill, which Keiser sponsored, is the reason for optimism, especially now that Republican amendments were added to allow flexibility for small-group insurers.