The Affordable Care Act turns three

Tomorrow marks the third anniversary of President Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law. At President Obama's side was Seattle-native Marcelas Owens - a tireless advocate for health reform. Like thousands of Americans year, the 11-year-old boy’s mother died of a treatable disease.

Last year, Governor Gregoire signed into law House Bill 2319 – legislation to ensure that our state was ready to fully implement health care reform. The measure was introduced and championed by HealthCare and Wellness Chair Eileen Cody.

Speaking at the time of passage, Rep. Cody said “Health coverage for all has been a value of our state for years. So we have historically been in the lead – whether it’s covering all kids, establishing the Basic Health Plan or passing consumer protections for patients. This is the next step.”

Governor Gregoire signs HB 2319 into law. She is joined by House Democrats
Eileen Cody, Laurie Jinkins and Speaker Frank Chopp

The ACA has already made critical improvements to our health care system. However, the best is still yet to come.

Beginning next year, the ACA offers us the chance to cover 385,000 Washingtonians making less than $15,000/year through the expansion of the Medicaid program. Over the next two years, Medicaid Expansion is estimated to save our state about $275 million. The caveat being that the legislature has to accept the federal dollars to do this.

Speaking to Medicaid Expansion earlier this session, Rep. Dawn Morrell said "I think we have to get past the rhetoric and to the plain facts... It's the right thing to do."

Also coming in 2014, all Washingtonians will be able to utilize the health benefits exchange to shop for insurance. While shopping for coverage, you will have access to a web-based system and professional advisors trained to help you select the plan that is right for you.

A few additional ACA improvements already in effect or coming soon:

• Young adults who may be looking for work during these tough economic times can stay on their parents’ plan until they find a job or reach the age of 26 – whichever comes first.
• Our health care system finally incentivizes preventative care by doing away with out-of-pocket costs for preventative care. Treating folks before their condition worsens isn’t only the right thing to do, it saves us money.
• Starting in 2014, no one can be denied health care coverage if they’re sick. The ACA also removes any caps on lifetime benefits that may have been in place – common sense safeguards that will prevent a Washingtonian from losing everything when they get sick.
• Also coming in 2014, all health plans will be required to cover essential benefits. These essential benefits include maternity care, mental health treatment, prescriptions and pediatric care.

Budget matters matter

Appropriations chair Ross Hunter

The Washington Budget and Policy Center thinks that the Budget Matters -- and they brought 300+ people together to talk about ways to move Washington's economy forward. Advocates, stakeholders, policy experts, and legislators participated in plenary and break-out sessions throughout the day. 

Deputy Majority Leader Marcie Maxwell

Several members of the House Democratic Caucus participated in panal discussions, including Ross Hunter, chair of the House Appropriations Committee; Marcie Maxwell, Deputy Majority Leader for Educationa nd Opportunity; Reuven Carlyle, chair of the House Finance Committee; and Laurie Jinkins, vice-chair of the House Health Care and Wellness committee.

Working together for victims of domestic violence

   

The Pierce County legislative delegation and county council members at the Crystal Judson Family Justice Center, packing flee bags and finding ways to work together. Flee bags are backpacks full of basic essentials that women fleeing domestic violence can grab and take with them. In the very front: Rep.-elect Dawn Morrell (D-Puyallup). In the back: Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist and Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy. Photo by Rep. Laurie Jinkins (D-Tacoma).

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Darneille, Jinkins host tele-town hall

Rep. Jeannie Darneille

Reps. Jeannie Darneille and Laurie Jinkins – both from the 27^th Legislative District in Tacoma – will host a telephone town hall 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, April 18. They look forward to a live conversation with their constituents about the issues that matter most to the district and the state.

Under the telephone town hall format, thousands of constituents will receive automatically generated telephone calls to their homes in the 27^th Legislative District just before 6 p.m. Wednesday. The constituents may ask questions for Reps. Darneille and Jinkins to answer by pressing *3 on their phones during the call, and they may listen to the live conversation to hear questions from others and answers.

Rep. Laurie Jinkins

Constituents who do not receive a phone call may participate in the meeting simply by calling 1-877-229-8493 and entering the ID code (PIN) number 18646 when prompted.

Fresh ideas for Washington's future

 

A group of 13 House Democratic freshmen kicked off a conversation this morning to discuss plans for the long-term fiscal health of Washington and bringing fairness to the state tax code. These lawmakers are bringing a number of issues to the table such as simplifying the B&O tax, requiring periodic legislative review of tax preferences, and adopting a capital gains tax.

Washington is the only state exempting out-of-state residents from paying sales tax. Rep. Kris Lytton has plans to end this loophole and, by redirecting the estimated $52 million/biennium, is pushing to fully fund all-day kindergarten.

Rep. Steve Tharinger stressed the need for careful analysis of the tax giveaways that have been in the books for almost a century, to see if those funds could be used in better ways to help rural communities that have not been spared from budget cuts.

A measure to re-balance the tax burden was put forth by Rep.Laurie Jinkins, which would apply a five percent excise tax on capital gains in excess of $10,000/year. This would generate approximately $1.4 billion per biennium that would be used to protect education and health care from further devastating cuts. 

The House Democratic freshmen realize these aren’t solutions to the state’s immediate budget problems, but rather emphasized this new approach to funding our state’s most vital services, ensuring long-term stability for Washington residents.

The legislators are planning a summer ‘listening tour’ in their home and neighboring districts to discuss these proposals with their constituents.

To read the press release about this morning’s news conference, click here.

To read this post in Spanish, click here.

Watch the press conference below:

Rep. Laurie Jinkins on CNN!

Yesterday, history was made in the House of Representatives with the passing of the Marriage Equality Act.

During the floor debate leading up to the monumental vote, members on both sides of the aisle gave impassioned and emotional speeches in support of marriage equality and – believe me – there wasn’t a dry eye in democratic side of the house.

In fact, the speech given by Rep. Laurie Jinkins was so moving that the video was posted on CNN and you can watch it here. 

Here is the full text of the speech:

This is about family. About kids. It’s about love and commitment. It’s about encouraging people who want to spend their lives together to send out invitations, buy a wedding dress and dance.

Because life isn’t about having a 5,000 square-foot house and four BMWs in the garage.

We talk a lot about education here and how a college degree is the surest ticket to the American Dream.

A decent house in a safe neighborhood with good schools. Getting a good education and a good job, with benefits like health care – we work so hard for those things because they let us do what matters most: taking care of our family.

I don’t drive a BMW. I drive a 1999 Honda and my partner drives a minivan. My family and I live in a modest home in Tacoma, not a mansion.

And that doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter one bit.

Because when I come home from work every night, to my partner of 23 years and to our son Wulf, I have all the riches and treasure a woman could want.

So I am voting YES for families,

YES for the two female sailors who showed the world the right way to walk off a warship in Bremerton,

YES because I’m proud of the courage shown by senators and representatives from both parties,

and YES not just because marriage is a good and noble institution to encourage and celebrate, but because all we do here – education and jobs and health care – in the end, we do all those things for one, simple, beautiful reason:
FAMILY.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Governor calls on legislators to approve marriage equality

Governor Chris Gregoire made a historic call for marriage equality this morning in Olympia. Joined by Reps. Jamie Pedersen, Marko Liias, and Laurie Jinkins, Gregoire called on the legislature to deliver her a bill legalizing same-sex marriage by the conclusion of the regular legislative session.

“Today, I’m announcing my support for a law that gives same-sex couples in our state the right to receive a marriage license in Washington- the same right given to heterosexual couples,” said Gregoire.

In the past few years alone, House Democrats have taken significant steps to ensure equal protection under the law for gay and lesbians across Washington.  Just two years ago, the legislature passed and voters OK’ed Referendum 71, which expanded rights for same-sex couples but fell short of marriage equality.

Following the governor’s announcement, House Speaker Frank Chopp said “Our caucus has a proud history of supporting equality for all people in Washington. Every family should have the same rights and responsibilities under the law, and I appreciate Governor Gregoire’s support of marriage equality.”

“It’s good for families, it’s good for the state, and it’s the right thing to do,” added Speaker Chopp. 

If signed into law, Washington would be the seventh state in the country to expand full marriage rights to same-sex couples.

You can find the full text of the governor’s speech here, as well as the video here.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Legislators urge Congress to increase funding for food allergy research

For some kids, ingesting a trace amount of peanuts can be deadly.

For others, the enemy could be wheat, or egg, or dairy products.  Or any other common food that turns up in lunchboxes or at birthday parties. 

Food allergies have been called a "sleeping enemy...ready to threaten the lives of nearly 8 out of every 100 children in America every minute of every day."  That's about two kids in every single classroom across the nation.  Nearly 40 percent of these children have already experienced a severe, potentially fatal reaction to a food.

But although there is currently no cure for food allergies, one lies within reach.   Through Congressional funding specifically for food allergy research, oral immunotherapy is being explored as a way to desensitize someone to a particular allergy.  This funding comes through both the Department of Defense and the National Institutes for Health, and is appropriated each fiscal year by Congress.

Two of Washington's legislators have recently written letters to Congressman Norm Dicks - who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense - urging his support for increased funding for food allergy research.  You can read the letter from House Majority Whip Kevin Van De Wege here.  When he's not busy with his legislative duties, Rep. Van De Wege is a professional firefighter and EMT who throughout his career has responded to plenty of emergency calls dealing with anaphylactic shock from food allergies.

Rep. Laurie Jinkins also wrote a letter to Congressman Dicks.  She is vice chair of the House Health Care & Wellness committee, and Deputy Director of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.  Food allergies, she notes, are a growing problem not only in our classrooms, but for our military as well.

Rep. Laurie Jinkins: A Busy First Year

When Laurie Jinkins and her 10 fellow Democratic freshmen were sworn into the Washington state House in January 2011, they constituted 20 percent of our caucus.

In the latest Capitol Ideas podcast, Laurie sits down with us to look back at that first busy year and looks ahead to 2012.

Health care bills target transparency, parity

Numerous health care-related bills cleared the House today, including one to provide more transparency for consumers about premium increases, and another to help the state prepare for the implementation of federal health care reform.

One bill, sponsored by freshman legislator Rep. Laurie Jinkins, will help Washingtonians who are battling cancer. It requires insurers to provide comparable coverage for both oral and intravenous cancer drugs. Often times, oral chemotherapy is the better treatment, but patient co-pays for this can be thousands of dollars more than IV treatment, even though oral chemotherapy can usually be done at home and IV treatment requires a trip to the hospital.

Here, in her speech on the House floor, Rep. Jinkins explains why this parity is important not just for patients, but for their families as well:

Jinkins: Health insurance rate hikes should be reviewed

By Rep. Laurie Jinkins

The national Affordable Care Act is a big step toward making health care more affordable and accessible, but it’s going to take time to implement. Our health care system is large and complex, so full reform can’t happen overnight. At the same time, I’m not very patient when I see people losing access to health care daily.

One thing we can do, right now, is let the state Office of the Insurance Commissioner continue to have the authority to review the rate changes proposed by insurers in Washington. Health insurance rates have skyrocketed over the past decade. Double-digit annual increases are not unheard of. The Insurance Commissioner currently has the right to review rate changes for individual plans, but that authority is set to expire at the end of this year.

Letting that happen is unacceptable—access and affordability will surely suffer. At a time when families are losing coverage at work because of the layoffs spawned by this recession, and when budget cuts are slashing many public-health programs, the need for affordable, accessible care has never been greater.

That’s why I’m sponsoring House Bill 1303, which would renew the Insurance Commissioner’s authority. This morning my bill was heard in the House Health Care & Wellness Committee.

To learn more about health insurance in Washington or how the national health care reform law might affect you, please click here to visit the Insurance Commissioner’s informative website.