Health Care and the 2005 Legislature

1
Health Care and the 2005 Legislature

• Rep. Jeannie Darneille
• June 3, 2005

2
Focus on Mental Health

• Mental Health Parity -- HB 1154
• By 2010, group health insurance plans that cover
  50 or more people must have full parity between
  mental health and medical/surgical benefits.
• Beginning 2006, parity in co-payments,
  coinsurance and prescription drug coverage.
• Beginning 2008, parity in maximum out of pocket
  or stop loss coverage.
• Beginning in 2010, single deductible for medical,
  surgical and mental health services.

3
Focus on Mental Health

• Community Mental Health Services
• Restores 80 million of 82 million in lost
  federal funding used to serve people not eligible
  for Medicaid and to provide services not covered
  by Medicaid.
• 10 million dedicated to services for mentally
  ill offenders in city or county jails, and to
  linking offenders with Medicaid upon release from
  jail.
• 4.5 million is provided to increase access to
  mental health services for youth.
• 6.6 million is provided for increased community
  hospital inpatient psych rates.

4
Focus on Mental Health and Chemical Dependency

• HB 1290 and SB 5763 Improving the mental health
  and chemical dependency delivery systems to focus
  on recovery, evidence-based practice and
  accountability
• Increased funding for chemical dependency
  treatment -- 40 million in new funding to treat
  low income youth and adults.
• Improved services for people with both mental
  health and chemical dependency problems.

5
Focus on Childrens Health

• HB 1441 -- The Childrens Health Program will
  serve poor children whose immigration status
  makes them ineligible for Medicaid.
• 10.3 million is provided to serve about 9,000
  children.
• Returning Medicaid eligibility reviews to a 12
  month cycle will result in about 25,000 low
  income children keeping their Medicaid coverage.

6
Focus on Public Health

• Local public health backfill -- 48 million
• A Joint Select Committee on Public Health
  Financing will review and recommend funding
  sources for public health services.
• Recommendations are due July 1, 2006.
• The committee will collaborate with counties,
  local public health, and the State Board of
  Health.
• 60 cent per pack increase in the cigarette tax.

7
Focus on Public Health

• SB 5841 Asthma prevention and treatment
• Policies for school staff training, asthma rescue
  procedures, and authorization for students to
  self-administer meds under defined conditions.
• Health Care Authority is to issue a status report
  in 2007 and 2009 summarizing results in
  coordinating state agency disease and demand
  management strategies for asthma and other
  chronic diseases.
• The Department of Health will design a state
  asthma plan by December 1, 2005, and implement
  the plan to the extent funds are available.

8
Focus on Public Health

• SB 5186 Physical activity
• Goal -- To promote statewide policy and planning
  efforts that increase access to inexpensive or
  free opportunities for regular exercise in all
  communities through
• Local land use planning
• OSPI promotion of school-based curricula and
  policies that increase physical activity for
  students and
• State employee work site health promotion
  programs.

9
Focus on Public Health

• SB 5898 Postpartum depression
• The Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse and
  Neglect will conduct a public information and
  outreach campaign about the significance, signs,
  and treatment of postpartum depression.

10
Focus on Prescription Drugs

• SB 5471 Prescription drug purchasing consortium
• Local governments, private businesses, unions and
  uninsured people will be able to purchase
  prescription drugs through the states
  consolidated evidence-based prescription drug
  purchasing program.

11
Focus on Prescription Drugs

• Prescription drug reimportation
• SB 5470 The state will seek an FDA waiver
  allowing us to reimport from wholesalers in
  Canada, Britain or other nations for sale through
  Washington State pharmacies.
• HB 1168 The state Board of Pharmacy is
  authorized to license Canadian mail order
  pharmacies using Washington state licensing
  standards.

12
Focus on Long term care

• 64 million is provided to increase home care
  worker wages.
• HB 1220 A Long Term Care Task Force will
  develop recommendations in 2007 about
• Public and private financing mechanisms
• Disability prevention interventions and chronic
  care management that can reduce the need for
  long-term care and
• The need to add additional capacity to the system
  and review laws and rules for possible
  elimination.

13
Focus on Child Abuse and Neglect

• SB 5922 Child neglect
• DSHS will be able to intervene where there is a
  pattern of child neglect by a parent.
• A parents substance abuse and willingness to
  participate in drug treatment will be
  considered when determining whether maltreatment
  has occurred, and in dependency proceedings.
• 5 million is provided to fund this legislation.

14
Focus on Child Abuse and Neglect

• 14.5 million is provided for
• CPS workers to investigate emergent child abuse
  cases within 24 hours, and non-emergent cases
  within 72 hours for accepted referrals.
• DSHS child welfare workers to have face-to-face
  contact with children, parents or other
  caregivers in the child welfare system every 30
  days.
• 1.8 million is provided to expand the parent
  representation project in dependency and parental
  rights termination cases.

15
Focus on Juvenile Justice

• Reinvesting in Youth program -- The budget
  includes almost 1 million for a 2 year, 3 county
  pilot project.
• The project will develop methods to reinvest
  state savings that result from local government
  investments in proven early intervention services
  that target juvenile justice involved youth and
  reduce crime by those youth.

16
Tobacco prevention and cessation

• Despite good efforts by advocates, the following
  tobacco related legislation did not pass
• HB 2038 SB 5592 -- to prohibit smoking in all
  public places and allow local government to adopt
  more restrictive ordinances.
• SB 5048 -- Tobacco products sampling.
  Distributing tobacco product samples to members
  of the public would be prohibited. Violation of
  this prohibition would be a misdemeanor.

17
Medical malpractice

• HB 2292 An alternative to Initiative 330 (WSMA)
  and Initiative 336 (WSTLA) passed the House of
  Representatives, but not the Senate. The
  alternative addressed
• Increasing patient safety and reducing medical
  errors
• Medical malpractice insurance reform and
• Civil liability reform