Another right wing scheme to rob the public blind. Haven't they done the same thing before? Remember the Savings and Loan scandal? Republicans robbed the public blind! Remember the financial collapse caused by Republican deregulation, again, robbed the public blind? Remember how Haliburton robbed us? They are all about getting their hands on the public's money and ROBBING US BLIND! I hope we're stupid enough to vote for this. We never learn.
Didn't the Governor just announce a task force to determine what programs the state should no longer be running? There are only four states that don't have private insurance as an option for workers' compensation. And the initiative doesn't eliminate the state's ability to offer workers' comp - if the state labor and industries can do better than private insurance, go get 'em.
No doubt this would lead to similar shenanigans seen in the health care industry (e.g. "providers" looking for any reason, no matter how flimsy, to deny someone their worker's comp). Privatization like this leads to humanity being thrown under the bus in favor of the bottom lines of corporations. This initiative is trying to fix something that isn't broken.
This story is so full of inaccuracies it's funny. To say that "all workers pay into the same pot" is totally false. Employers pay the vast majority of premiums and in most cases 100%. Then there are the Self-Insured employers who foot 100% of the cost.
2nd the BIAW hasn't looted anything. Their members participate in a voluntary rebate program based upon safety and lower cost.
All this bill does is allow competition. L&I can keep doing what it does. If employers can find a better price for the same coverage they can choose to leave, which is what will happen because the current monopoly is going broke.
@4 and @6,
They need to exempt to be able to follow RCW 51. The same practices that fall under the insurance commissioner will not coincide with the current Workers' Comp rules.
All I can say is that employers deserve a choice in who they pay to insure their employees. To be beholden to an inefficient monopoly only invites totally unregulated cost increases. Competition helps keep the price stable and lower.
Typical socialist Republicants - privatize profit, socialize risk, rip off the middle class taxpayer.
2nd the BIAW hasn't looted anything. Their members participate in a voluntary rebate program based upon safety and lower cost.
All this bill does is allow competition. L&I can keep doing what it does. If employers can find a better price for the same coverage they can choose to leave, which is what will happen because the current monopoly is going broke.
I suggest you go here and learn: http://www.lni.wa.gov/ClaimsIns/Insuranc…
They need to exempt to be able to follow RCW 51. The same practices that fall under the insurance commissioner will not coincide with the current Workers' Comp rules.
All I can say is that employers deserve a choice in who they pay to insure their employees. To be beholden to an inefficient monopoly only invites totally unregulated cost increases. Competition helps keep the price stable and lower.