A site visitor recently forwarded me the following email, which was a response from Senator Murray about the health care bill that recently passed in the Senate:

Dear [name withheld]:

Thank you for writing me regarding reforming America’s health care system.  I appreciate having the benefit of your views.

Over the last year, I have heard from hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians on this issue. I have heard from constituents on all sides, with differing opinions.  I want you to know I appreciate the time you have taken to share your views with me.  I know your views on this issue are powerful and deeply felt, and please know that I respect your views.

Health care reform was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. With this law, Washington state families and small business owners will see immediate health care relief.  For example, starting this year, young people will be allowed to stay on family policies until age 26.  This means a large population who are currently uninsured and receiving their care predominantly through high-cost emergency room visits will now be covered.  This will reduce the amount of uncompensated care that often gets passed along to insured Americans in the form of increased premiums to cover these individuals.

In addition, insurance companies will no longer be allowed to rescind existing health insurance policies when a person gets sick and will no longer be able to arbitrarily limit or end your care.  Currently, if you have an expensive and debilitating disease that requires extensive coverage, such as epilepsy or cystic fibrosis,  insurance companies can cut off your coverage and require you to pay out of pocket for your lifesaving care.  The passage of this law means that when you get sick, the insurance company that covers you will have to pay for your care and not back out of it because you are too sick or too expensive to cover.

Furthermore, insurance companies will be required to provide immediate access to insurance for any child with a pre-existing condition. Additionally, adults with a pre-existing condition will now be given access to affordable, quality health care through a new coverage pool instead of being denied coverage by insurance companies. Right now, insurance companies can refuse to cover children due to an existing illness, even if they were born with the disease and ailment.  Adults with pre-existing conditions are also denied coverage when insurance companies see them as too risky or too expensive to cover. Now, with this bill, should you or your child be diagnosed with a serious disease, insurance companies will have to provide coverage.

Also starting this year, preventative services will be required to be covered with little or no cost to Washington state patients. This means we can start to move away from our current “sick care” system, which is much more costly and move to more of a health care system focused on preventing and treating diseases earlier.  Additionally, Washington seniors who fall into the Medicare Part D “donut hole” this year will see immediate relief. This means that 159,000 Washington seniors who are struggling to pay for their prescriptions will have drug costs covered by Medicare instead of paying for them out of their own pockets. In addition, this year Washington small business owners will qualify for the first phase of a tax credit program to make providing health insurance coverage more affordable.  Up to 92,500 small businesses in Washington state will be eligible for these tax credits to help provide coverage to their employees.

Although this law has not fixed everything that is wrong with our health care system overnight, Washington state residents and small business owners have now moved one step closer to lower premiums, more choices, and the health care security and stability they deserve.

Again, thank you for writing me about this important issue.  If you would like to know more about my work in the Senate, please feel free to sign up for my weekly updates at http://murray.senate.gov/updates. Please keep in touch.

Sincerely,

Patty Murray
United States Senator

If you have correspondence from Senator Murray (or any other Senator), please feel free to forward it to contact at firesenator dot com.

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