Helen Sommers: An Oral History

The Press
And Republicans, who control the Senate, agreed
to hold off on renewing $115 million in business
tax incentives that are set to expire next year. The
two sides agreed to leave $300 million in reserve
funds, and some of that could be used to extend
the tax breaks when the Legislature reconvenes in
January for next year’s session.
The plan includes some revenue enhancements,
such as changes in rules on unclaimed property and
increased enforcement of tax collections, possibly
including penalties.
To meet the agreed-upon spending level, House
Democrats will have to cut about $327 million from
their budget proposal. Senate Republicans have an
extra $250 million to work with.
Democratic Sen. Darlene Fairley of Lake Forest
Park said she happily helped the majority Senate
GOP find places to spend that money in a meeting
yesterday. “I had more fun!”
For example, Fairley said, she added spending
in the Senate plan for Medicaid health care for the
poor, prenatal community clinic care for undocumented
immigrant women, and health benefits for
state workers.
Lawmakers couldn’t reach a budget deal in
time for the legislative adjournment in late April.
Democratic Gov. Gary Locke called lawmakers
back for a special session that convened on Monday,
but most legislators stayed home while the budget
leaders negotiated.
The deal reached this week would likely impose
a tax on nursing homes, which is supported by both
parties and the nursing home lobby. But the details
had not yet been ironed out.
“It’s good progress and I think we can get moving
now,” Marty Brown, budget director for Democratic
Gov. Gary Locke said of the breakthrough.
“They’ve got the basics on the (resources) level
and now we’ll just see where we get on the appropriations
side.”
Enact prescription drug reform
pg. 279
By Rep . Helen Sommers And Rep . Eileen Cody
Friday, February 1, 2002
GUEST COLUMNISTS
Two of the biggest challenges facing the Legislature
this session go hand-in-hand and have been
well chronicled on this editorial page. The challenges
are addressing a $1.2 billion budget shortfall and
getting a handle on the skyrocketing cost of medical
care, particularly prescription drugs.
While Washington has long been a leader when
it comes to expanding health access, the cost of
providing prescription drug coverage is busting
our budget.
Drug costs for people covered by Medicaid,
children’s health insurance programs and other
medical assistance programs, as well as for the
medically indigent, are projected to increase by
34 percent – to nearly $1 billion – in the current
biennium. That’s on top of a 51 percent increase
in 1999-2001. Over the past few years, Medicaid’s
annual prescription-drug bill alone has more than
doubled to nearly $500 million.
Everyone agrees that prescription drugs are
increasingly effective at managing chronic disease.
Unfortunately, with people using newer and more
expensive drugs – and more of them – drug prices
are spiraling out of control. They’re the 800-pound
gorilla driving increases in health care costs.
These higher costs lead many patients to lower
their prescribed dosage or simply forgo medication
all together. This is wrong. People who are sick
should be able to afford the medicine they need.
While people are being forced to choose between
buying medicine and buying food or paying
the rent, the pharmaceutical industry spends more
than $14 billion a year on marketing nationwide.
This includes $2 billion on television and newspaper
advertisements and billions of dollars worth of free
samples handed out to physicians.
Simply put, large pharmaceutical companies