Washington House Democrats

Moeller: Legislators need 'a good solid dose of the real world'

Legislation aims to kick-start discussion of universal health care

Feb. 13, 2008

OLYMPIA – “When might the Legislature actually figure out a way to provide universal health-care insurance for Washington citizens?” state Rep. Jim Moeller rhetorically asked this evening (Wednesday, Feb. 13).

“Maybe when we legislators must ourselves pay a real-world price tag for our own health insurance,” he answered.

Moeller, D-Vancouver, has introduced legislation that would cancel the group-coverage rate that lawmakers in the state House and Senate now receive.

His measure (House Bill 3367) “would force us either to buy insurance in the much more expensive individual insurance market, or go without the coverage.”

He explained that “I did a quick check on Google and found that it would cost me up to $600 a month for insurance.

“I know of folks in Clark County who are struggling in the individual market to provide health care for their families,” Moeller said. “They have to find some way to pay for increases of up to 30 percent this year alone. The cost of insurance for a lot of these people consumes nearly half their income!

“Lawmakers – and I’m not leaving myself out of this – could use a good solid dose of the real world.”

Referring to what he calls seriously untended business in Olympia, Moeller pointed out that “I don’t think we’ll seriously address universal health care here in the Legislature until we ourselves are required to participate in the scramble for affordable health care.

“The middle class has to scramble like crazy. And I can’t even begin to know what an awful scramble it is for those folks who can only dream of moving up to the middle class.

“Maybe this is why legislative reform is so slow,” Moeller added. “Legislators simply don’t feel the harshness of the market because of our great group-coverage insurance rates.

“My point is that it’s time for us to feel the harshness of the real world.”