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Home / Legislative Action Center / Issues - Health Care / AWB and AI Join in Lawsuit to Overturn Technical Assistance Advisory |
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AWB and AI Join in Lawsuit to Overturn Technical Assistance Advisory |
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Written On: February 08, 2007 |
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Written By: Richard Davis |
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OLYMPIA— The board of directors of the Association of Washington Business voted yesterday to join Associated Industries (AI) in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court to overturn a Technical Assistance Advisory (TAA) issued by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, Mike Kreidler.
The TAA threatens affordable health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of Washington citizens by improperly establishing new legal requirements governing premium rates of health plans offered to small employers by associations. The TAA alters existing law in place since 1995, which only the state Legislature has the power to do, said AI president and CEO Jim DeWalt and AWB President Don Brunell in a joint statement.
"We took this action with great reluctance," said AI’s president and CEO Jim DeWalt. "Associated Industries has been in business for nearly 100 years, and this is the first time we have filed a lawsuit against a regulator in order to protect our ability to continue to provide affordable health coverage to thousands of people, many of whom had no coverage before."
"Litigation is a last resort for us," said AWB president Don Brunell. "We have explained our concerns to Commissioner Kreidler but have reached an impasse. We disagree on the issue of his authority to change the law by TAA. To protect the interests of those small businesses that rely on us for affordable health insurance coverage for their employees, we reluctantly concluded we need to participate in this lawsuit."
In 1995, Gov. Mike Lowry requested legislation that enabled associations to offer more affordable health care plans to their smallest members – those with 2 to 50 employees. The Legislature agreed, swiftly endorsing greater rating flexibility for health plans purchased by small employers through association plans, opening up a more competitive market for small employers seeking to provide affordable comprehensive coverage for their employees.
"The law has worked," said DeWalt, "and we believe plans like ours are an important part of the solution to the problem."
For example, said Brunell, nearly 17,000 people employed by 2,300 small businesses now have their health insurance through AWB’s HealthChoice plan. The average business providing coverage through HealthChoice employs five people. Statewide, health plans provided by associations like ours cover hundreds of thousands of people.
"In 1995, we worked with Gov. Lowry to create a system that would allow our members to be part of the solution to the health care problems facing people in our state," Brunell said. "These plans are working as they were intended to work. We know that many of our HealthChoice participants had not offered health insurance before joining our program."
Associated Industries is a member driven employers' association founded in 1910. With over 95 years of experience dedicated to supporting our members, AI currently represents approximately 500 local member firms and 35,000 jobs.
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