H-0244.1
HOUSE BILL 1321
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State of Washington | 64th Legislature | 2015 Regular Session |
By Representatives Robinson, Ryu, Cody, Riccelli, Farrell, S. Hunt, Fitzgibbon, Carlyle, Tharinger, Goodman, Ortiz-Self, Bergquist, Dunshee, Moscoso, Appleton, Sells, Pollet, Reykdal, Walkinshaw, Jinkins, Senn, Wylie, Ormsby, Lytton, Hudgins, Tarleton, Moeller, Sawyer, Fey, Gregerson, and Stanford
Read first time 01/19/15. Referred to Committee on Health Care & Wellness.
AN ACT Relating to the intent that all Washington residents have health coverage; and adding a new section to chapter
74.09 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 74.09 RCW to read as follows:
(1) The legislature finds that:
(a) Washington's families, individuals, communities, and local economies thrive when every resident has access to health coverage and services;
(b) The passage of the federal patient protection and affordable care act offered the potential to extend coverage to many of the forty-seven million nonelderly uninsured persons nationwide, including one million uninsured Washingtonians. Washington state has made significant and historic progress in providing coverage to uninsured adults, children, and families under the federal patient protection and affordable care act;
(c) Even after the successful and full implementation of the federal patient protection and affordable care act, approximately ten percent of Washingtonians will remain uninsured, and even more will remain underinsured;
(d) Too many Washingtonians remain without health care coverage or services and find themselves uninsured or underinsured due to the lack of affordable coverage options, while other residents are at risk of losing adequate health care coverage or cannot afford to renew or maintain existing coverage;
(e) Small businesses struggle to afford to pay for health care coverage and still too many low-income individuals and small businesses bear an inequitable health care coverage burden;
(f) The cost of family health care coverage premiums have increased more than seventy percent in the last decade and over eight thousand individuals lost health coverage during 2014 due to the failure to pay premiums for their health benefit exchange plans; and
(g) The state's uncompensated care burden is nearly one billion dollars annually which results in increased costs for the insured, and many individuals and families are living with medical debt due to illness or injury.
(2) It is the intent of the legislature that all residents of Washington state have accessible, affordable, and comprehensive health care coverage by 2020.
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