• WA State Office of the Insurance Commissioner

Yet another story I failed to comment on last week was the report issued by WA state insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler, revealing that our state has surpassed a new health care milestone: More than one million uninsured Washingtonians. Since the office first started tracking the number in 2004, the ranks of the uninsured have swelled from 12 percent of the state population to 14.5 percent, and the cost of uncompensated care (charity care and unpaid bills) has more than doubled, from $500 million annually to nearly $1.2 billion.

And in case you think we're talking about a bunch of deadbeats and ne're-do-wells, the report reveals that nearly half of Washington's uninsured—about 470,000 people—are currently employed either full- or part-time.

“This is a grim milestone for the state," said Kreidler, "and we believe the situation will remain bleak for two more years." And what's supposed to happen in two years to reverse this trend?

In 2014, major provisions of federal health care reform, known as the Affordable Care Act, take effect. The act will expand Medicaid coverage to nearly 355,000 more Washingtonians, and an additional 460,000 will be eligible for subsidies to help put affordable health insurance within reach.

These changes will dramatically reduce the number of uninsured in Washington, cutting uncompensated care costs, and sparing hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians from the anxiety of living one serious diagnosis away from medical bankruptcy. Once the ACA is implemented, we estimate that the percentage of Washingtonians without health coverage will drop from a high of about 15 percent in 2013 to about 6 percent.

That is, assuming the ACA is implemented. Despite the obvious benefits and cost-savings the ACA would bring to Washington state, attorney general Rob McKenna is expending taxpayer dollars fighting to have the US Supreme Court toss it out. Which seems like an odd way to campaign for governor, but there you have it.

And of course, adding irony to insult, the counties with by far the highest rate of uninsured people—the counties whose citizens would benefit most from full implementation of the ACA—are the mostly rural, mostly Republican Eastern Washington counties that will provide McKenna the bulk of his electoral margin.

Go figure.