Olympia Business Watch

Judge halts state plan that threatens caregivers who aid family members

A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order stopping Washington state officials from implementing a new law that would require people who care for developmentally disabled family members to quit working through licensed agencies and become independent providers.

U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle issued the order Wednesday afternoon as part of a lawsuit seeking to block implementation of Substitute House Bill 2361. The legislation, approved by lawmakers this spring, will hurt care givers, force some home care agencies out of business, and expose people with disabilities to increased risks to their health and safety.

Several home care agencies, care givers and beneficiaries filed the lawsuit Monday against Gov. Chris Gregoire and state Department of Social and Health Services Secretary Susan Dreyfus.

The ruling gave a temporary reprieve for care givers, who were faced with a choice to turn over care of their loved one to someone else, or quit working for a home care agency -- and give up access to additional support services that come as a result.

In many of these situations there is no choice - the only person capable of providing the kind of care required is a family member. “Personal care,” as it’s called by officials, means just that: Personal. Toileting. Bathing. Dressing.

DSHS was planning to implement the law beginning July 1.

Washington gears up for possible return of swine flu

It's summer time now, and the days are beginning to heat up.

But state health officials are thinking ahead to fall and what could be a busy flu season.

To help prepare, the state Department of Health announced today that Gov. Chris Gregoire has authorized emergency funding that includes $700,000 to buy additional antiviral medications to go with supplies already received from the federal Strategic National Stockpile.

The allocation also includes $150,000 that will be used to cover part of the costs of the response this spring when the pandemic flu strain was detected in Washington.

"There's no way to be sure what the next flu season will bring, yet we know that this global outbreak isn't over," Secretary of Health Mary Selecky said in a news release.

Gregoire and Selecky praised state health officials as well as local health providers for their response this spring.

But even though the symptoms of the outbreak this spring were similar to those of seasonal flu, Gregoire noted that the H1N1 flu was recently declared the first global flu outbreak in 41 years.

"It's wise to prepare for whatever the flu season brings this fall by ordering more antiviral medications now," Gregoire said.

AWB board members: Lower cost of health care, increase quality of care

The Seattle Times is the lastest media outlet to publish the guest editorial on health care reform written by AWB board members Don Conant and Judy Coovert.

In the piece, also published last week by The Olympian, Conant, general manager of Olympia-based Valley Nut and Bolt, and Coovert, co-owner of PrintCom, Inc., a printing company in Burien, express their skepticism about a potential overhaul of the nation's health care system by pointing to examples of state reforms that have not gone well.

States that tried to centralize control of health-care costs through price controls, penalties for employer nonparticipation, mandates and business sin taxes saw devastating results, they write.

On the other hand, states such as Florida, Georgia and Indiana that enacted reforms that promote market competition saw increased competition, price stabilization and epanded access to coverage.

"The idea that the federal government can save small businesses from the burden of health care by providing a government-run system is completely without merit," Conant and Coovert write. "These examples indicate that government does not do health care well. With this in mind, it would be a mistake to give government even greater control over health care."

Conant also spoke about health care reform last week on the KUOW radio program "Weekday."

You can download the program here.

Brunell: Join the union - or else

In his weekly column, AWB President Don Brunell writes about a difficult choice facing Washington parents who care for their disabled children: Turn over the care of their children to someone else, or join the union.

The complicated set of circumstances leading up to this scenario can be traced back to a 2001 union-backed intiative that created a state home healthcare authority.

State lawmakers tried and failed in the last legislative session to find a fix. They could take up the issue again, but not until the Legislature convenes in January.

Meanwhile, the only winner is the union that stands to gain new members, income and clout.

Use this opportunity to fix health care system the right way

Steward's comments were part of a panel discussion that included U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash.; Jack McRae, AWB board chairman and senior vice president of congressional and legislative affairs for Premera Blue Cross; Fred Kiga, vice president of government and community relations for The Boeing Co.; and Cheryl Scott, senior advisor of the global health program for the Gates Foundation and former CEO of Group Health.

AWB board members take to air, print to warn about health reform

Don Conant, general manager of Olympia-based Valley Nut and Bolt and a member of the AWB board of diretors, was one of several guests talking about health care reform this morning on KUOW radio's program, "Weekday."

Conant offered his perspective as a small business owner who is wary of national health care reform efforts, and provided a counterpoint to some of the other guests, including Democrat congress members Sen. Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, who are advocating for it.

You can listen to the program here.

The program aired the same day that an opinion piece co-authored by Conant and Judy Coovert, co-owner of PrintCom Inc. and also an AWB board member, was published in The Olympian.

In the article, Conant and Coovert argue that Americans should be wary of health care reforms that centralize control in the federal government given the experience with state health care reform efforts.

"Government-managed state reform plans like those tried in Washington, Oregon, Tennessee, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Maine have provided a clear indication of reforms that do not work," they write.

Those states have experienced an exodus of health insurance companies, less competition from health care providers, an increase in health care premiums, a decrease in the quality and availability of care, and an increase in the number of uninsured, according to Conant and Coovert.

"With this in mind, it would be a mistake to give government even greater control over health," they write.

AWB President Don Brunell wrote on the subject earlier this month, urging Congress to slow down and not rush a major health care overhaul.

Brunell: Health care reform is too important to rush

Pushing a health care reform bill through Congress this summer would be a mistake, AWB President Don Brunell writes in his column this week.

President Obama wants lawmakers to rush legislation, but the goal should be to carefully consider reform Brunell writes.

"Here is what the President and Congress should do," he writes. "First, slow down. Thoroughly look at what is working and what is not. Understand the numbers behind America's 45.7 million uninsured."

And modeling America's health care system on Canada's or England's isn't a good idea, either, Brunell says.

In this blog post, he cites Safeway as an example of an employer addressing health care and its costs in an effective way.

WHO flu warning now at highest level

Remember that swine flu alert?

Although the topic has all but disappeared lately from the day's top news stories, today' s announcement by the World Health Organization will likely change that. This morning, the WHO declared its first flu pandemic in 41 years and is raising the swine flu alert to its highest level.

Washington state now ranks seventh in the nation in the number of confirmed H1N1 flu cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control. As of June 5, there were 577 confirmed cases in our state. (Wisconsin has the highest number of confirmed cases at 2,217.)

According to Wendy Freitag, business liaison to the Emergeny Management Division, this virus remains a serious public health issue for employers. 

"We're currently trying to determine what this [new threat phase] really means to us here locally and are there any other proactive measures we should be tracking as a result of this? We're trying to help businesses understand what this new WHO phase 6 means to them."

The greatest spread of the disease right now is in the southern hemisphere -- Australia, in particular -- where the seasons are reversed. Preparations are underway now in the U.S. to determine how best to prepare for the change of seasons later this fall. 

The USA Today, famous for pioneering the information graphic, has generated some interesting interactive flu maps, including a time lapse map of cases in the U.S., a world view map tracking the spread of the virus and an interactive graphic explaining how various flu viruses combined to cause a new strain. 

AWB will participate in a special Department of Health Webinar Monday about the new threat level and what it means for employers in Washington state. Watch this space visit our Web site, keep tabs via our Twitter account or check out our Facebook Fan Page for updates and ways you can get your business questions about the virus answered.

Canada no example to follow on health care

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Going around Capitol Hill with the Canadians promoting free trade provides some interesting insights into their single-payer, government run health care system. There is a feeding frenzy in Congress on health care proposals which will drive the U.S. a significant step toward a government run health care system like Canada. 

It reminds one of the gold rushes in California and Alaska at the turn of the last century when people flocked to those two states, risking all of their money to stake a claim in HOPES of striking it rich.  Most staggered home broke.

Perhaps the best commentary came from a Dr. David Gratzer, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who was raised in Canada.  Dr. Gratzer writes in The Wall Street Journal that Canada is moving toward the U.S. system to solve its serious government cost overruns and long delays for treatment. 

According to Dr. Gratzer's op-ed piece:

"In Canada, private-sector health care is growing.  Dr. (Brian) Day (a Vancouver, B.C. orthopedic surgeon) estimates that 50,000 people are seen at private clinics every year in British Columbia.  According to the New York TImes, a private clinic opens at a rate of about one a week across the country (Canada).  Public-private partnerships, once a taboo topic, are embraced by provincial governments."

Does this sound like a system we want to emulate?  Perhaps the best option is for President Obama and Congress to slow down, look around carefully and build upon what is working and carefully fix what is not.

Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)

A Cure for the Health Care Hyperbole

With all apologies to Ms. Poppins, a spoonful of research helps the rhetoric go down when it comes to the national debate over health care. 

When the presidential hopefuls uttered those two magic words earlier this week at Belmont University in Nashville, keyboards all over the world clattered with commentary. In a nutshell, Obama would put more decisions about health care in the hands of government. McCain, meanwhile, would opt for more choices in a competitive market retooled to favor consumers. 

Under the McCain plan, consumers could purchase health insurance across state lines, allowing them to choose coverage  more tailored to their individual needs at a more affordable price. Individuals and families would receive a tax credit regardless of where they work or what they earn for buying health insurance. In Washington state, this would provide critical assistance to the 600,000 uninsured in our state and would be key to getting them the insurance they need.

This is where the research part becomes necessary. Fortunately, there are good people who are paid to do just that for us:

• The Wall Street Journal has an excellent comparison in this opinion piece on the debate and the discussion of the tax credits that ensued in Tuesday's debate.
• The Business Roundtable issued this news release on the heels of the debate urging accuracy in the discussion of national health care plans and, specifically, the McCain plan.
• Washington Post political blogger Ruth Marcus offers more analysis of the plans here. She's not a fan of the McCain plan, but she does dispel the notion that his plan "is not the ill-intentioned monstrosity of Obama's ominous portrayal."

Both Marcus and the WSJ also take great pains to disabuse people of the notion that McCain's elimination of the tax preference for employer-sponsored health care is a bad thing. Under the McCain proposal, individuals would be offered a $2,500 refundable tax credit and families would be offered a $5,000 credit. Writes Marcus:

"The Obama campaign tries to scare voters into believing that this is a terrible deal, noting that the average family policy costs about $12,000.

True, but if you get $12,000 in health insurance from your employer and are in the 25 percent tax bracket, you would owe another $3,000 in taxes. The credit would let you take $5,000 off your overall tax bill. You come out ahead -- unless your insurance is hugely generous, in which case it's serving to drive up everyone's health-care costs."

Our two cents worth: choice must be a central tenet of any new health plan. As the WSJ noted:

The Democrat is merely offering Canada on the installment plan.

For more on the health care debate, don't miss the article AWB's Paul Schlienz wrote on the candidates' respective plans in the current issue of Washington Business magazine.