Current Washington insurance issues as of February 2010Washington insurance issues of availability and affordability reflect a progressive environment facing current challenges to maintain its expansive ideals.
The image that I have of Washington state is one that I have of any west coast state with a strong high-tech presence. I would assume that the state is progressive and educated, especially with regard to its health care. Washington doesn't exactly disappoint, but it doesn't impress either. It does fairly well in prevalence of smoking, ranking 6th in non-smokers, 5th in lack of occupational fatalities, 4th in preventable hospitalizations, 2nd in infant mortality and 8th in premature death. It could do better in high school graduation, ranking 34th and it's roughly midway at percentage of insured in the country. It has a risk pool and while risk pools are better than nothing, they generally screen for pre-existing conditions, although Washington does have some provisions for that. They also have a taxpayer-subsidized Basic Health Plan to provided deeply discounted health coverage to the working poor but there's a long waiting list and the state's budget deficits endanger that program. Washington still has the same problem with rising premiums that other states have with an increase of over 100 percent from 2000 to 2009 and earnings rising by only 21.6 percent for the same time period. All in all, this state's health care situation is heaven compared to Texas but it's far from being a Vermont.
Do you have a different opinion of health coverage in this state?Health coverage policies and laws obviously can change. If your experience with getting health coverage is different than what is written above, or if you just want to share your experiences with health coverage, please feel free. |