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The Impact of Immigration Policy on Health and Health Care
Immigration remains a hot topic. Congress failed to pass a “compromise” immigration bill a few weeks ago, leaving DACA recipients “in legal limbo.” The Administration is scrambling to reunite children separated from their parents at the border to meet a judge’s order – they have until July 26 and are already behind schedule with the […]
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Washington State Launches HealthCareCompare Website
Many states have established a system to collect information from insurance companies on health care price and quality. Washington State is one of only six states that currently make this information more accessible to consumers online, with the recent launch of the new HealthCareCompare website. The website aggregates claims data from commercial, Medicaid and Medicare […]
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More Uncertainty Created for Insurers
The Trump Administration unexpectedly suspended risk adjustment payments to Exchange plans after conflicting court decisions about the payment methodology. Experts say that the Administration doesn’t need to suspend the payments (only re-evaluate the methodology) and is reacting in an unnecessarily slow and disruptive way. Originally one of three risk mitigation strategies set out in the […]
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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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