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King County
Executive Office
Ron Sims, King County Executive 701 Fifth Ave. Suite 3210 Seattle, WA 98104 Phone: 206-296-4040 Fax: 206-296-0194 TTY Relay: 711
Image: King County Exeutive Ron Sims, News Release

May 22, 2006

Health insurance for all low income children and new focus on global warming announced in State of the County Speech

State of the County AddressEvery low income child in King County will be covered by health insurance, and the county's work on global warming will be formalized with a new Office of Global Warming King County Executive Ron Sims announced today in his State of the County speech before the Metropolitan King County Council.

Sims called King County a government known for its innovation and creativity in addressing challenges universal to governments across the nation. He said healthcare and global warming are the two greatest challenges facing all people of the world and noted the lack of federal actions to effectively address either.

Sims' planned phased approach to cover approximately 16,000 uninsured children is expected to maximize county healthcare dollars now being spent treating serious illnesses at clinics and providing emergency hospital care.

"Simply put, every poor child and every child of the working poor deserves to have health insurance, and I'm going to make sure it happens," Sims told the standing room only audience in Council chambers at the King County Courthouse. "This is a small investment to help thousands of kids that will deliver value far beyond the dollars and cents spent."

About 8,000 of the uninsured children are eligible for Medicaid or State Children's Health Insurance, and the first phase will target enrolling those children for benefits they should already be receiving. The pilot project will hire up to six outreach and health access specialists to help parents who either don't know their children qualify for coverage or who are unable to complete enrollment materials.

The county is modeling its program after those in 11 California counties that provide health insurance to low-income and lower middle income children. Under the program San Mateo County saw a 58% decline in uninsured hospital stays for children in nearby hospitals.

"When you consider the days of school missed by these children and the work missed by their parents, the real costs to society are far greater than the dollars spent on emergency care or outreach to sign them up for coverage," said Executive Sims. "These children qualify for this coverage, and it maximizes our community health care system investment to use the coverage budgeted for them."

"There are two things a parent hopes to offer their children: unconditional love and good health." Sims stated. "For a wealthy region like ours, I believe it is our moral obligation to provide equal access to health care for children in need."

King County Public Health clinics provided care to 2,700 uninsured children last year at a cost of $3.7 million while Children's Hospital provided $6.8 million in cost to low income patients in 2002 (the last year statistics were available).

Executives and managers with Children's Hospital, Odessa Brown Clinic and the State Department of Health are among the members of the Executive's Child's Health and Access Task Force who will make recommendations on phase two this summer. The Executive's goal is to provide medical and dental insurance, including preventative care to the remaining children until they become eligible for State of Washington benefits. The County's pilot program is expected to provide valuable strategies and experience for other jurisdictions. Governor Gregoire has set 2010 as the goal for enrolling all low income children in state insurance.

Office of Global Warming

The Executive praised the work of his Global Warming Team, consisting of technical, scientific and planning staff from several departments who have forged policies and actions to reduce global warming pollution and adapt operations to changes in the climate. Sims recalled proposing a formal office of Global Warming in 1988 with then-councilmember Bruce Laing and the negative response to the idea.

"Imagine the head start we would have if we had been successful then," Sims said. "The time of delay is over. We have the responsibility to reflect on what we know today and take actions for what we know will happen tomorrow.

"Nothing threatens our health, livelihoods or environment as much as the ominous advance of global warming."

King County will be the first county and first bus system in the nation to join the Chicago Climate Exchange in a Sims' proposal that is sponsored by County Chair Larry Phillips and now being reviewed by council. Earlier this year Sims signed four Executive Orders that will get the county to 50% renewable energy for non-transportation endeavors by 2012; use 50% renewable energy and technology efficiencies for transportation by 2020; and maximize waste-to-energy projects such as Cedar Hills Landfill.

Promises Made Promises Kept

State of the CountySims enumerated recent accomplishments, many of which used innovative approaches. Sims cited accomplishments in financial management, healthcare reform, department efficiencies, election performance, environmental protections, water supply planning, investments in parks and trails, ending homelessness, partnerships with labor unions, as promises he made and kept:

  • Fiscal prudence—policies and good management have earned the county triple-AAA bond ratings from the nation's three ratings agencies. Sewer rates will be lower than expected next year because of last month's upgrade of bonds sold by the wastewater division for sewage construction projects like Brightwater.
  • Reducing employee healthcare costs—90 percent of employees have enrolled in wellness program that is expected to shave $40 million from the county's healthcare costs over the next three years.
  • Puget Sound Health Alliance—The alliance is on the cusp of bridging the medical digital gap by creating the nation’s first medical database, which is key to the reforms envisioned for reducing costs while increasing quality of care. The database will deliver the comprehensive data needed to develop protocols for diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Nearly 100 organizations representing 900,000 lives a members of the Alliance, which is seen as a model for counties across the nation.
  • Efficiencies—launched KingStat in February 2005, a dynamic performance audit management tool that will see full implementation this year. On-time bus performance, building permits and immunizations are among the range of operations that will be monitored.
  • Elections—Three independent, outside reviews have noted the improvements in elections since 2004. The county is now planning to transition to all-mail ballots in 2007.
  • Brightwater— public health, the environment and the economy are protected and a building moratorium avoided as construction is underway on the biggest sewer system upgrade in 40 years.
  • Water supply—regional water supply planning is moving forward and a 21 million gallon reclaimed water backbone system is part of Brightwater. This drought-proof water supply is vital to coping with projected negative impacts on water supply caused by global warming.
  • Emergency Management—we have pulled together a regional effort to prepare for the worst that could happen whether it is an large earthquake, pandemic flu or terrorist attack. Our emergency manager is seen as a national expert on all-hazard preparedness.

Sims predicted the 21st Century will be the ‘metropolitan century' where economic shifts and urban growth beyond the city limits of major cities will place regional governments like King County at the center of collaborative governance. Regional governments like King County have the ability to do long-term planning and coordination, and be the catalysts for progress that any one city can't.

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  Updated: May 23, 2006