Health Care
Governor Gregoire believes that every Washington family deserves access to high-quality, affordable health care. This is a necessity if we want our families to be secure, our businesses to be competitive and our state budget to be sustainable. Governor Gregoire is excited about Washington’s potential to serve as the national model for providing high-quality, affordable health care for every American. Already, national experts are taking notice of what Washington is accomplishing by tackling sources of our health care challenges.
In the 2007–09 biennial budget, the Governor focused on the quality and affordability of health care in Washington. She expanded access to health care coverage for 38,500 additional children to take us closer to her goal of covering all kids by 2010. Since Governor Gregoire took office, 84,000 more children now have access to health insurance. She rolled out a new prescription drug card that has saved Washingtonians more than $1.8 million and covered prescription drug co-pays for 49,000 low-income seniors a month. In addition, she signed the Blue Ribbon Commission Health Care bill, which implemented more than 20 initiatives to improve health care in this state. This includes funding to better manage chronic illnesses such as diabetes, and to help give patients and providers real-time access to their medical records.
This year, Governor Gregoire is tackling another fundamental issue with our health care system: patient safety. This is the next logical step in the road to reform. All Washingtonians deserve safe, high-quality health care. They rightfully expect their health care providers to be well qualified and, above all, do no harm. We must ensure that health care is safe, effective and well-coordinated.
Governor Gregoire intends to improve patient safety by increasing the licensing and oversight standards of providers practicing in our state, expanding investigations of health care complaints, and using technology to reduce medication errors.
| Additional Information |
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| Agency Activity Inventory - The Agency Activity Inventory summarizes the major activities of each budgeted agency within Washington State government. |
| Printable Budget Highlights - Download a printable version of Governor Gregoire's budget and policy highlights for Health Care in Adobe PDF. |
| Key Agencies That Contribute to This Area |
| Health Care Authority, Washington State |
| Health, Department of |
| Medical Assistance Payments (DSHS) |
| Washington State Patrol |