The Washington State Health Care Authority announced grant awards to 48 organizations for the purpose of providing free health care services for people who are under 200% of federal poverty level and are uninsured and underinsured, regardless of immigration status. 

The grants range from $15,000 to $4.8 million and include oral health, behavioral health, primary and preventive care, care for chronic conditions, and COVID-19-related testing and treatment as well as outreach. The largest grants were awarded to Sea Mar Community Health Centers ($4.8 million), Citrine Health/Breast, Cervical, Colon Health Prime Contractor Network ($3 million), and ANSWERS Counseling, Consultation and Case Management Services ($2.3 million). 

NoHLA led efforts to improve program design via dialogue with HCA and joint letters with concrete suggestions for a more transparent process aligned with the legislative intent from Health Equity for Immigrant Campaign organizations. The grant funding must be used by June 30, 2024. More information is expected to follow on accessing these important services.

September 9th update: a list of grantees by intended use of funds is now available. NOTE: NoHLA believes the last category should be titled “testing, assessment, or treatment of Covid-19” and have reached out to HCA to clarify.

September 26th update: a list of grantees by intended use of funds with contact info and counties is now available. NOTES: The “award amount” column is the organization’s total award, not an amount per category of care; additionally, typos and one organization that reported declining the grant are noted in comments/track changes.