WASHINGTON STATE HIKES HEALTH PLAN PREMIUMS TO DRIVE POOR OFF ITS ROLLS
Seattle Times, WA - Premiums for Washington's Basic Health Plan will as much as double in January as part of a strategy to drive thousands of members off the popular but cash-strapped state-subsidized insurance program.
Ending weeks of deliberations, officials announced this morning that they will boost Basic Health's rates by an average of 70 percent as part of their effort to boot 30,000 to 40,000 working-class people off its rolls.
Officials rejected four other potential options on how to shrink the 100,000-member pool, including a lottery and ejecting members based on how long they'd been on the program.
In the end, officials punted on the dilemma, leaving it up to the members themselves to decide whether to stay or to leave.
"This is the best possible option out of difficult choices," said Preston Cody, deputy administrator of Washington State Health Care Authority, the agency that operates Basic Health. . .
Ending weeks of deliberations, officials announced this morning that they will boost Basic Health's rates by an average of 70 percent as part of their effort to boot 30,000 to 40,000 working-class people off its rolls.
Officials rejected four other potential options on how to shrink the 100,000-member pool, including a lottery and ejecting members based on how long they'd been on the program.
In the end, officials punted on the dilemma, leaving it up to the members themselves to decide whether to stay or to leave.
"This is the best possible option out of difficult choices," said Preston Cody, deputy administrator of Washington State Health Care Authority, the agency that operates Basic Health. . .
posted by TPR | 3:12 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home