Today the Washington State Legislature starts the fourth week of this year’s 60-day legislative session. Both chambers continue to convene remotely in the midst of the current COVID-19 surge and corresponding strain on hospitals.  Despite this challenging context, the session started off optimistically with an improving revenue picture, including an estimated $8 billion in new projected revenue through 2025 and almost $1.3 billion in remaining federal pandemic relief funds to spend. 

This is the second year of the biennial legislative cycle, so the session is only scheduled to run until March 10th (see calendar of key session deadlines). Bills need to be voted out of the policy committee in their chamber of origin by Thursday February 3 – otherwise, they will be considered dead, unless they are “necessary to implement the budget.” Bills must pass out of the fiscal committee in their originating chamber by Monday, February 7. 

Despite the short session, legislators have introduced hundreds of health care-related bills, and there may be still more to come.  The Legislature has already sent some key health bills to the Governor’s desk, such as changes to Washington’s new long term care program, WA Cares, which he signed last Thursday.

More than two years into the pandemic, many Washingtonians still don’t have access to affordable health coverage and care. Historical and ongoing inequities related to income, immigration status, disability, race/ethnicity, age, and gender/sexual identity have not been adequately addressed, and as a result, disparities in access to affordable, quality health care persist.

NoHLA is focused on two top priorities: 

·   Health equity for immigrants. As a key supporter of the Health Equity for Immigrants Campaign (HEIC), we aim to ensure that all Washington residents have access to health coverage and care, regardless of immigration status. During the interim between legislative sessions, our campaign has worked with state agencies as they develop a proposal for a Washington state program to cover undocumented immigrants who currently lack health options. Governor Inslee’s supplemental budget proposes initial funding to launch a Medicaid-like program for immigrants with incomes up to 138% FPL by 2024. The Campaign is now seeking $80-$100 million as an essential down-payment toward initial outreach and enrollment, implementation, and half of the required program costs, to ensure a successful program launch by January 2024. 

·   Addressing the Medicare affordability cliff. Today, many older adults and people with disabilities in Washington State lose affordable, comprehensive health coverage when they qualify for Medicare. Most lower-income adults can get subsidized health coverage if they are under age 65. But after people start Medicare when they turn 65 or experience a permanent disability, they lose the coverage they had before and – counterintuitively – have to pay more for health care, experiencing the “Medicare Cliff.” Governor Inslee’s supplemental budget proposes an initial step to address this issue by removing the onerous “asset test” that bars Medicare enrollees from affordability assistance programs if they have even small savings for retirement or emergencies. While this would be an important first step toward addressing the Medicare Cliff, NoHLA is seeking a fuller solution. We are calling for a comprehensive study of options the state could take to expand affordability assistance programs with help from federal funds, as 34 other states have done.

Additionally, NoHLA is tracking numerous other bills that would improve health care access in Washington, including: 

·      Reinforcing state protections against surprise medical bills  when people get needed care out of their health plan’s provider network. NoHLA’s Senior Attorney and Policy Advisor Emily Brice testified before the House and Senate health committees to support consumer protections in this bill. 

·  Enhancing state oversight of health care entity mergers and acquisitions to ensure that such consolidations do not reduce care, impact equity, or increase cost.  

·   Increasing Medicaid’s personal needs allowance to allow people who need in-home long-term services and supports to meet their basic household needs. 

·       Improving prescription drug affordability through a new state oversight board and protections against high cost-sharing. 

·   Maintain Apple Health for Kids from birth to age six continuously, regardless of changes in income, to strengthen early childhood health.

·       Strengthening hospital charity care requirements so that more Washington residents can avoid falling into medical debt for needed care. 

·   Building a health care workforce that can meet community needs, including dental therapists

·       Affirm abortion access to protect equitable access in Washington (More information)

In a year with more tax revenue than expected and with over $1B in unspent federal  pandemic-related funds in Washington, now is the time to recognize that community health is interconnected.  Meeting the holistic health care needs of all Washingtonians strengthens our state and our society.