By Samantha Barry, NoHLA Intern This session, legislation to protect consumers from surprise bills from health care providers is back for the 4th year in a row! You might receive an unexpected surprise bill (also called an out-of-network bill or balance bill), after getting treatment that, unbeknownst to you, was from a provider not in...

By Janet Varon, NoHLA Executive Director For many years, Washington has demonstrated its commitment to cover residents on equal terms whether they are citizens or immigrants. In 2008, the state passed landmark legislation to ensure that all children living in Washington have health coverage through age 18. Under the state-funded Children’s Health Program – known...

The country’s longest government shutdown is disrupting the lives of over 800,000 furloughed employees and having far-reaching consequences for public programs. From the office of Senator Maria Cantwell: Most agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have full appropriations and have not been forced to furlough employees.  Nonetheless, we have seen...

The Washington Legislature has begun its 2019 session, which lasts until April 28. Many health care-related bills have been introduced, and there are more to come. This session, there will be a strong focus on behavioral health – relating to mental health and chemical dependency treatment reform, to address the deficiencies in our state’s systems....

By Guest Columnists Omid Bagheri, MPH and Julianna Alson, MPH 1.8 Billion. Imagine how that amount of money could be invested instead into healthcare, housing, education and other social determinants of health. Instead, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that we’re spending that much on fatal and non-fatal injuries by law enforcement,...

The Texas v. US lawsuit, in which a Texas federal judge found the ACA unconstitutional last month, has now been appealed. See our December 18th blog post for background. This ruling, if upheld, would devastate the Medicaid expansion, marketplaces such as the WA Health Benefit Exchange, pre-existing condition protections, health care delivery system reforms, public health and...

Adult hearing benefit Thanks to the 2018 Legislature, Apple Health (Medicaid) will restore hearing aid coverage for adults with hearing loss of 45 decibels or more in their better ears (children already have coverage). Cochlear implants, replacement and repair will also be covered. Clients age 21 and older who meet specific hearing loss criteria may...

Adapted from a summary by the National Health Law Program Last Friday, Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas ruled that the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional. He went even further, striking down the entire ACA because, he opined, the mandate was not “severable” from the rest of the...

In the 2018 elections, Washington voters elected Dr. Kim Schrier, a pediatrician championing quality health care as a fundamental human right, to the U.S. House of Representatives, District 8. At the state level, we sent 5 new Democrats to the State Senate and 12 new Democrats to the State House, increasing Democratic majorities in both...

NoHLA is an active participant in Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF), an impressive national campaign comprised of thousands of advocates across the country that helped lead the charge against the administration’s harmful Public Charge proposal. When the public comment period for the proposed rule closed on December 10, over 216,000 comments were delivered to the Department...