News

The LIHD Board and Superintendent continue to compile and analyze the data gathered at the June 19th Community Conversation. We were pleased with the strong turnout and active participation from the community. Over the course of the coming weeks, we’ll be answering questions and providing data in response to questions raised at the meeting. In addition, we will be delivering the 2019 Health Care Survey results at our July 24th Regular Board meeting.

It was not surprising to hear most Lopezians are concerned about the implications of Kaiser Permanente’s increased denial rate of emergency medical air transport and their recent decision to stop offering insurance plans in the County as of January 1, 2020.

As reported in several posts earlier in the year, Superintendent Presson has been actively engaged with various County leaders, air transport operators, and the Office of the WA Insurance Commissioner (OIC) in response to the air transport denials. She has also worked with individual Lopezians to provide assistance in understanding the appeals process, and the majority of those initial denials were later overturned and paid. She continues to provides monthly reports on the status of air transport activities at the LIHD Board meetings, and you can find the recently released report from the OIC investigation on the website under the Health Care Information tab.

The Superintendent is also actively engaged with the OIC to determine the impact of LifeWise Health Plan of WA becoming the sole individual insurer in 2020. The OIC is in the process of carefully reviewing the plan filings, and expects to have more information available at the end of the summer. Superintendent Presson is in regular contact with the Deputy for Rates and Forms, and has provided input on the unique needs of the community. She is also in contact with representatives from LifeWise to ensure a smooth transition. She will continue reporting on updates, as they become available, on the website and at Regular Board meetings. If you are unable to attend Board meetings, you can read details on the discussions on the Minutes tab.

Please watch for our next post which will address the District’s annual budget process, where your property tax revenue goes, and how UW Medicine spends the subsidy provided by the LIHD.  As a reminder, the 2019 Health Care Survey will remain open until July 10th so encourage your friends to visit the 2019 Community Health Care Survey post to access the online link and have their feedback included. Finally, we encourage the community to check out the Community Engagement tab to submit your feedback, comments and suggestions. We look forward to continuing the conversation with the community.

Thank you!