Our state’s annual health care quality report, the Community Check-up, was released last week and identified gaps in care. Unfortunately, an insurance card doesn’t necessarily mean access to care or access to quality care. The latest report from the Washington Health Alliance compares clinics, medical groups, hospitals, counties and Accountable Communities of Health on common...

Congress got waylaid in its protracted efforts to take down the ACA, causing it to move directly to the tax bills. Meanwhile, families, clinics and states are wondering what will happen to them if Congress doesn’t reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Community Health Center Fund, both of which expired September 30th....

We are almost one month into Open Enrollment for individual health insurance! In the first two weeks, Washington’s HealthPlanFinder reported a 58% increase in enrollments over the same time period last year. To encourage enrollment, HealthPlanFinder has shopping tips, including the new Smart PlanFinder tool, to help consumers select a plan. There is also a...

The Trump Administration is proposing to gut standards for coverage of health benefits in the individual insurance market. In late October, the Administration released their proposed 2019 “payment notice” that includes changes in rules governing the marketplaces and health insurance markets. NoHLA and other advocates submitted comments objecting to many of the proposed changes, especially...

Democratic candidates for Governor won in both Virginia and New Jersey – providing optimism for Democrats preparing for next year’s mid-term elections. At home, the WA State Senate flipped back to a Democratic majority. The Republicans have had control in recent years. Republican Senator Andy Hill’s death last year created the opportunity for newcomer Manka...

After the resignation of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price amid scandal, President Trump announced his replacement pick, Alex M. Azar. Most recently an executive at Eli Lilly, Azar is a lawyer and former Deputy HHS Secretary under President George W. Bush. Azar needs to be confirmed by the Senate; he was unanimously...

President Trump slashed outreach and enrollment funding and ended cost-sharing reduction payments to disrupt the Exchange. Open Enrollment began on November 1 and enrollment has surged across the country. Over 600,000 people selected a plan through HealthCare.gov, the federal marketplace, in the first week of Open Enrollment. In Washington’s Exchange, website traffic on Washington HealthPlanFinder...

NoHLA hosted a breakfast briefing featuring our Executive Director, Janet Varon, and special guest, Jorge L. Baron, Executive Director of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Jorge focused on the policy changes facing immigrants and highlighted a few local patient stories, and Janet followed with a discussion about the impact of these changes on health care access....

In conjunction with the breakfast briefing last week, NoHLA teamed up with Northwest Justice Project to publish a new resource, Responding to Immigrants’ and Refugees’ Fears about Health Care. Designed for advocates, lawyers, providers and immigrants themselves, our new publication provides information on the current legal landscape and links to variety of detailed resource materials.

The Senate Republicans are again attacking the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This week, they added a new provision to their tax bill repealing the requirement that everyone have insurance. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects this would increase the number of uninsured by 13 million in a decade, inflate premiums by 10% and reduce Medicaid...