Substance abuse, retaining health care priorities for 9th District incumbent

RITZVILLE — Republican Washington Rep. Joe Schmick said he wants to focus on combating substance abuse and maintaining health care access in the Ninth District if he’s reelected. He said he would support a review of budget priorities in the 2025 legislative session.  

Schmick, the incumbent, is being challenged by Democrat Pam Kohlmeier.  

“I think the biggest thing that is affecting every single community is fentanyl and the drug epidemic,” Schmick said. “They are causing so many problems.” 

Schmick said in his opinion the Legislature needs to revisit drug possession statutes. 

“I would like to criminalize instead of legalize possession of the drugs. We’ve got to get after the drug dealers and people that are selling this, and try to stop the flow into our communities as much as we possibly can,” Schmick said. 

Among other things, Schmick said the legislature should revise criminal statutes in light of a Washington Supreme Court decision that found previous narcotics possession statutes too broad. Legislators have made some revisions, but Schmick said he thinks there’s more work to be done. 

Some of the decisions concerning law enforcement also need another look, he said. 

“I think we should also invest in our police department and support them. Now, what do I mean by support them? Well, the reforms that we passed really handcuff, I believe, what police officials, the officers, the deputies, can do. I think that needs to be changed,” Schmick said. “Because we’re not going to support our officers to where they’re not able, or (they are) unwilling, to protect the community that they’re in charge of. That’s a losing battle.” 

Schmick said law enforcement departments should have adequate resources for continuing training. 

“I think another part of that support of our officers, they need proper training. We need to fully train them so that they’re skilled in the decisions that they have to make in a split second,” he said. “I think training is always important and it’s especially difficult for our smaller agencies that don’t always have a lot of extra (resources that provide) the ability and time to get trained.” 

Maintaining access to health care would be another area of focus, he said. 

“The Ninth District has eight Critical Access hospitals and several of them are struggling,” Schmick said. “In our smaller towns, these hospitals will be the center of health care. So I believe it’s pretty important that we keep them financially healthy.” 

A Critical Access hospital is reimbursed on the basis of cost for some patients with publicly funded insurance, such as Medicare. Schmick said part of maintaining rural hospitals is ensuring adequate staff and part of it is ensuring adequate funding. 

“How are we going to increase and retain the amount of people that provide primary care in our community?” he said. “That is something we’re working on right now, trying to come up with a plan to retain — and also increase — the supply (of medical professionals). When you go in to see your doctor, you may have to wait maybe a couple months even for scheduled appointments. I think we can do better.” 

Schmick said part of the solution involves finding out why medical professionals are leaving, and along with that increasing the supply of doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. He said he would support finding ways to increase opportunities for residency in the state, particularly with the establishment of a second medical school in Washington. 

In addition, Schmick said he thinks the state should revisit its Medicare reimbursement rates. Medicare pays less than the cost of providing the service, he said, with health care providers making up some of the difference from private insurance. 

“We’ve got to take care of that, because every time we underpay a Medicaid claim, you’re shifting that cost to somebody else somewhere else. So the state needs to pay their share and pay a fair reimbursement for those Medicaid patients,” he said. 

Schmick said he would support a review of state spending priorities to raise that reimbursement. 

“Medicaid spending, in my mind, is a much higher priority than a lot of legislators put on it,” he said. 

A review of state spending priorities is in order regardless, he said. 

“We’re going to have a tough budget year — that's what everybody keeps telling us,” he said. “I was there when we had to make tough decisions (and) budget cuts to the 2008-09 budget. A lot of these programs are great, but if they’re not effective, if we’re not getting the desired result from them, they need to be taken a look at — do we continue those? I believe that we can do better with the existing money that we have.”