Government Relation News

Why AMTA-WA supported a "no" vote in the Legislature for insurance compacts...

          HB3015; SB6781 and ESHB2875. All of these bills would have authorized the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) to enter into compacts with other states for the purpose of permitting the sale of small group health benefit plans across state lines. On the surface this sounds like a good idea, consumers would have more choices, but then you read the fine print! Bottom line, it would be bad for medical consumers and bad for Licensed Massage Practitioners (LMP's).

          If these bills had passed, out-of-state insurers would have been able to ignore many of Washington's consumer protection statues. We do not want to undo over a quarter century of advocacy work for consumers and providers by allowing out-of-state companies to ignore our mandates.

          These mandates matter! The Legislature passed each and every mandate because there was a problem. The mandate that is the most familiar and important to LMP's is the every category of provider mandate. This mandate keeps insurance companies from being able to discriminate against us and other Complementary and Integrative health care practitioners. It allows consumers to be able to choose us for their health care team.

          If these bills had passed, many predicted that it would be the beginning of a "race to the bottom". The risk is too high for Washington health care consumers and providers.

          So, we bought ourselves some time this year. But, bills like these are sure to be back next legislative session. So, vote wisely this coming fall. Donate to the Washington Massage Alliance for Health (WAMAH), the political action committee that serves the needs of the massage community (www.wamah.org).

Marybeth Berney

AMTA-WA 1^st Vice President

Government Relations Chair