Currently 46 million Americans - more than 876,000 right here in Washington - are uninsured. Unfortunately, the uninsured population is expected to grow, and so are overall health care costs. A 2008 study by the New America Foundation found that without major reforms by 2016, Washington residents will have to spend more than $26,000 - or nearly 42 percent of median household income - to buy health insurance for themselves and their families. The average deductible in Washington could climb to more than $3,400 by 2016.

State and local government health care spending in our state is expected to total nearly $11 billion this year. Despite aggressive efforts over the last few years, the uninsured population continues to rise, and we need the federal government to lead the way in overhauling the system.

President Obama, who would like a comprehensive reform bill signed by the end of the year, has a clear approach:

1. Reduce costs to make health care affordable

2. Protect patient choice of doctors, hospitals and insurance plans

3. Assure quality, affordable health care for all Americans

One way to meet these goals is with a public option. The intent isn’t to create socialized medicine or undercut private plans; the goal is to provide hardworking Americans with a measure of security they currently do not have.

Whatever plan emerges, states must be allowed to build on existing programs that are working at the state level, such as our Apple Health for Kids program that has already succeeded in extending health care coverage to 95 percent of all eligible kids. Any national plan must also reduce overall costs through pooling, competition and administrative efficiencies and be funded in a way that mitigates the burden on the working poor and small businesses.

It’s estimated that overhauling our nation’s system could cost as much as $1 trillion. But it will cost us much more if we do not reform health care. Health care spending in the United States reached $2.4 trillion in 2008 but is projected to reach $3.1 trillion in 2012 and $4.3 trillion by 2016. People are going bankrupt, losing their health and even their lives because of a failed system that costs $2.2 trillion a year to maintain.

For additional facts on Health Care in Washington, click here.