Last week, Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed suit against St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma for withholding charity care from low-income patients. State law requires hospitals to provide charity care (financial assistance) to low-income patients, but recent investigations demonstrate some hospitals fail to comply. A recent report from Columbia Legal Services found that hospitals are...
Category: News
Congress on Recess, but Uncertainty Lingers
The Republicans have not given up on repealing Obamacare, but attention appears to be shifting to a bipartisan approach to achieve market stability. Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, has pledged to work with Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, and the Senate Health Committee to convene hearings when Congress returns following Labor Day. Alexander...
Washington Lawmakers Weigh In
“All lawmakers should be committed to working in a bipartisan manner to achieve needed improvements for our health care system. This should start with a commitment from President Trump that his administration will continue to pay the Affordable Care Act’s Cost-Sharing Reductions, in accordance with the law. This provision of the ACA was designed to...
Funding for Children’s Health Insurance Program Ends Soon
Nearly 9 million children in families with incomes above Medicaid eligibility thresholds are covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in a year. In Washington State, 47,000 children are currently covered by CHIP. However, the program continues to be subject to short-term funding extensions, hampering planning and budgeting by state policymakers and families. The...
State Legislative Session Wrap-up
This week, NoHLA released summaries on passed legislation and the final operating budget relating to health care access in the Washington State Legislature. Check them out!
Legislative Session Spotlight: Paid Family Leave
The Washington State Legislature secured the passage of paid family leave this legislative session. While this is not directly health care-related, it will have a significant impact on the health of families in our state. Washington State tinkered around the edges of paid family leave previously, but never figured out how to fund it. Family...
Uncovering Maternal Mortality
A flurry of articles lately address the troubling trend of increasing maternal mortality in the U.S., which has doubled in the last two decades. Two women die each day due to pregnancy-related complications and another 175 women suffer severe complications requiring major medical intervention — equivalent to about 65,000 close calls annually, according to the...