I couldn't get brokers to return my calls. Humphrey, who had been enrolled in Regence Blue Shield, says she spent three months calling and researching before she found someone willing to cover her. Humphrey got lucky. As of January, individual health coverage was available from commercial carriers in only eight of the state's 39 counties. The crisis prompted Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn to reopen the state's high-risk pool last fall in communities without other individual coverage.
Most observers view the commissioner's actions as a temporary solution.
Any permanent fix, they say, must come from the Washington State Legislature. Few will argue that the sickness in the individual market has evolved from sniffles to pneumonia, but what caused the illness and how to cure it remain a point of fierce contention. The insurance commissioner's statistics show individual insurance comprises just under 6 percent of the health insurance market in Washington. Individual policies cover people who don't have insurance through their jobs or don't qualify for government programs. Some are early retirees too young for Medicare.