Learn About Our Health Care Access and Affordability Successes!

NoHLA is celebrating big health care wins in the 2024 session with important progress on a number of important bills that passed that will improve health care access and affordability across the state, including:

• protecting the delivery of important preventive services in Washington without cost-sharing amidst the ongoing federal challenge that jeopardizes screenings, immunizations, and other care (HB 1957); and
• improving equity and birth outcomes by increasing income eligibility for Apple Health prenatal and perinatal coverage to 210% of FPL starting this November (SB 5580).

We also saw two major achievements as part of our work with Fair Health Prices Washington that will address health care affordability with bills that: 

• strengthen the Health Care Cost Transparency Board by adding consumer, labor, and employer purchaser representatives to the board, requiring insurers and providers that exceed health care cost goals to participate in a public hearing, and gaining a better understanding of the underinsurance problem (HB 1508); and
• reduce medical debt by banning out-of-network billing by ground ambulances and setting a payment limit to 325% of the Medicare rate by January 1, 2025 (SB 5986).

We’re also pleased to report progress on some budget priorities that will:

• provide continuous Apple Health coverage of children up to age 6; 
• expand funds to launch the Apple Health immigrant expansion program this July 1st, which will allow undocumented people up to 138% of FPL to enroll in health coverage; and
• help us improve health care affordability by studying benchmarking best practices and the value of tax breaks provided to nonprofit insurers and providers.

Some of the bills that didn’t pass despite significant effort include SB 5241 (Keep Our Care Act) providing for Attorney General review of health care consolidations, HB 2066, addressing affordability through health care provider contracting, and HB 2361, standardizing plans on the Exchange.

There’s much more about the bills and the budget in our Legislative Session Wrap-Up slides now available on NoHLA’s website.

And in case you missed it you can read The Journal of Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater Columnist Dr. Debra Glasser’s overview of the session. Spoiler alert: Glasser calls NoHLA’s Legislative Wrap-Up webinar, “a rapid-fire review of the few bills passed and many unpassed in every area imaginable that impacts health care!”