Group Health counselor Corey Goldstein leads a group discussion at the Aki Kurose Middle School Teen Center, Seattle.
ANNUAL REPORT 2006
smarter ?
safer ?
easier ?
more affordable ?
about staying healthy ?
for everyone ?
Advancing Health Care For All
The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not provide health care for all of its citizens. Here, in the wealthiest nation in the world, more than 46 million of our people are uninsured. More than 600,000 of them live in Washington state — 100,000 of them are children.
We are working to help change this. Group Health's membership has endorsed the call for universal health care. Consistent with our mission to serve the greatest number of people and to reduce cost as a barrier to care, we are working in Olympia and Washington, D.C., to promote reform of the nation's health care system, starting with children and low-income families. In 2006, we took important steps to be part of the solution.
Group Health was there 20 years ago working with the Washington State Legislature to help launch the state's Basic Health Plan, which today subsidizes health benefits for more than 100,000 low-income residents who pay some portion of benefits based on a sliding scale. And in 2006, we reduced our premiums for residents who enroll in this plan, putting coverage within reach of even more of the state's working families.
We also announced Group Health's single largest contribution ever: $2 million to support access to better and more affordable health care and coverage for low-income children in Washington. We have given $1 million to be used in counties around the state that are part of our coverage area. The other $1 million is being used in King County to support outreach and other strategies and will provide 8,000 low-income children in the county with access to quality, affordable care and coverage.
Finding smart answers to the tough questions is Group Health's heritage — and our future. Putting these answers into practice has never been more critical to the health of our members, our communities, and our country.
ALSO SEE:Letter to Stakeholders
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"Thanks to Group Health's generous contribution, covering uninsured children in 2007 is a reality within our grasp. Group Health has shown tremendous leadership, and we hope others will follow. A fundamental value throughout King County has to be that when we go to bed at night, we rest assured that all children have access to quality health services."
King County Executive
Ron Sims
King County Executive
Ron Sims
