Congress returned to DC last week and are once again tackling health care. The Senate Health Committee started hearings about stabilizing the health insurance market. Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray seek to craft bipartisan legislation, but Murray acknowledges that “threading the needle will not be easy.” The committee heard from insurance commissioners, including...
Category: News
Competing Proposals – Repeal and Replace or Medicare for All?
Yesterday, two contrasting health care reform proposals were released. The Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson plan appears to have similar effects to the recent Republican ACA repeal proposals and would strip coverage from millions, gut the Medicaid program, and undermine the ACA’s most popular consumer protections. Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) released a Medicare for All proposal that would...
Federal Slashing of Outreach and Enrollment Does Not Affect Washington
The Administration announced a 72% cut to the outreach and enrollment budget for the upcoming Open Enrollment period. This cut does not directly affect Washington State and other state-based Exchanges that are required to be self-sustaining, the reduced national publicity means our Exchange should increase its own communications for this fall’s open enrollment season. Consumer...
DACA: Threats to Young Immigrants Raise Concerns about Health Care Access
The federal Administration announced last week that it would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in six months. The program currently allows over 800,000 young ‘Dreamers’ to study, work and contribute to their local communities. Elimination of DACA will put thousands of young people who have resided in the United States since...
Washington State Investigates Maternal Mortality
Maternal mortality is on the rise in the United States, increasing from 7.2 deaths per 100,000 births in 1987 to 17.3 in 2013. These rates are higher than expected for a developed country and research suggests several causes, including demographic changes and the rise of chronic disease among women of reproductive age. Maternal mortality is...
Charity Care Under Close Examination Closer to Home
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...
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...