Washington to become first state to offer public health insurance option

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign legislation today to make Washington the first U.S. state to offer a public option for health insurance regardless of income level. The plan, which is set to go into effect in 2021 and is dubbed Cascade Care, will be available to state residents in addition to private plans. The government plans to hire private insurers to administer the new public plans, and will set a cap — 160% of federal Medicare rates — on payments made to providers.

But there are still a lot of unknowns with the new plan: A reporter friend of mine in Washington tells me that it’s unclear how many private insurers will opt in to accept the new public plans. It’s also not clear how much Cascade Care will cost taxpayers, even though some estimates say that the new plans will be about 10% cheaper than comparable private plans.