WHEREAS many studies have documented that the number of uninsured residents in Washington State continues to increase, and that the cost-sharing burden on insured residents also continues to increase, and

WHEREAS equal access to state-of-the art medical care is not possible for most residents without some kind of third party support, and

WHEREAS the state's Public Health system is affected by residents' unequal access to medical care in the following ways:

• Untreated patients make efforts to control communicable diseases more difficult
• People without ready access to medical care are likely to be under-immunized
• Patients with no "medical home" come to public health clinics with problems that are beyond the scope of the clinic's capabilities
• Public health funding is inadequate for outreach programs to meet the needs of special populations, and

WHEREAS the fragmented private insurance, managed care approach to financing medical care makes no attempt at solving these problems, and

WHEREAS neither the State Legislature nor the Congress have any plans to address these problems, and

WHEREAS Initiative to the Legislature 245 (I-245) will address these problems by:

• Assuring a more than adequate benefits package for all state residents
• Spreading health care costs among all individuals, all employers, and existing state health financing programs
• Developing a state-wide, anonymous health care data system
• Creating a single health security trust that will cooperate with other state agencies
• Addressing non-financial barriers to health care
• Reducing costs by greatly simplifying the administration of the health care funding system, using the savings from lowered administrative costs to fund good benefits for all residents
• Utilizing global budgeting and statistical profiling to monitor and control costs instead of using bureaucrats to micromanage physicians' day-to-day clinical practices
• Permitting physicians to negotiate collectively regarding payment and other issues, while assuring them a major role in creating and maintaining the proposed publicly accountable health care financing system
• Assuring citizen involvement in developing and adopting policies and procedures for coverage for health care services
• Creating a model for other states and the nation for financing health care as a social contract instead of a commercial enterprise, and

WHEREAS the Washington State Public Health Association has in years past endorsed other similar efforts to provide universal access to health care for Washington residents,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that WSPHA endorses Initiative 245 (I-245).

Signed by: Frank Westrum, WSPHA President