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Or They’ll Just Try to Repeal it Again?
A coalition of conservatives, including the Heritage Foundation and former Senator Rick Santorum, released a blueprint “The Health Care Choices Proposal” to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Again. It contains similar provisions to Graham-Cassidy, one of last year’s (many) failed attempts to undermine the ACA. The proposal is very unlikely to pass […]
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New Homegrown Universal Health Care Act
Seattle’s Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal introduced the State-Based Universal Health Care Act of 2018 last week. The new bill would allow states to develop their own plans to provide access to health care for all of their residents. It would provide states with access to federal funding streams and regulatory flexibility to support affordable, universal health […]
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Immigrants Have Plenty to Worry About
The news has been filled with images and stories of families being separated at the border. The emotional and health impacts are nothing to sneeze at. Especially for children, whose Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are adding up quickly. But moms are reportedly being pulled away from their breastfeeding babies. There are serious short- and long-term […]
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More Than a Gag Rule
The Trump administration released a proposed rule last month that will ban Title X Family Planning Program providers, including Planned Parenthood, from either providing or referring for abortions. It’s bad enough that the rule would “gag” clinic staff, preventing them from directly referring patients for abortion care. But there’s even more to this proposed “gag […]
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New Junky Coverage Options Will Undermine the Market
Proposed rules on association health plans and short-term limited duration plans were released earlier this year for public comment. And health care groups did comment —overwhelmingly opposing the rules. A Los Angeles Times analysis found that over 95% of health care group comments expressed serious concerns or opposition to the association health plan rules and […]
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Wait, What?
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been dealt blow after blow by the Trump Administration – but this one really takes the cake! A 20-state lawsuit filed in February argues that the individual mandate repeal renders the ACA unconstitutional. Many expected this lawsuit to be no big deal. But two weeks ago, the Justice Department refused to […]
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Happy Pride Month!
This month, we celebrate the Affordable Care Act (ACA) making a significant difference in the lives of millions of LGBTQ individuals and families. Many have benefited by getting health insurance, being covered as a family, and accessing covered health services, including transition-related care, for the first time. The ACA has helped LGBTQ people get the […]
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The Rising Cost of Health Insurance
Recent analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed that premiums are expected to increase 15% in 2019. This increase is on top of the national 34% increase in 2018 – leading to a 54% total premium increase over two years. These increases are primarily due to threats and changes to the ACA by the […]
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Washington Comes in at #7 in Health Care Ranking of States
Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Vermont, and Utah are the top-ranked states according to the Commonwealth Fund’s 2018 Scorecard on State Health System Performance. The scorecard assesses all 50 states and the District of Columbia on more than 40 measures of access to health care, quality of care, efficiency in care delivery, health outcomes, and income-based health care […]
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Public Health Seattle & King County for the Win!
When the Trump Administration ended Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program grants two years early, many grantees filed lawsuits. Last week, a federal judge ruled that the Administration unlawfully terminated the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (the fourth such decision in recent weeks). In this case, the court ordered the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to […]
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