NoHLA’s 2022 legislative preview
Nearly two years into the pandemic, many Washingtonians still don’t have access to affordable health coverage and care. Despite seismic shifts in our health care system, too many Washington residents lack health care access due to historical and ongoing inequities related to income, immigration status, disability status, race/ethnicity, age, and gender/sexual identity. On a state...
Watershed Health Care Legislation Passes the House
Learn the latest about five essential health care elements in Build Back Better as NoHLA Executive Director Janet Varon and Senior Staff Attorney & Policy Advisor Emily Brice discuss the bill that passed the House this morning! Watch our short video to learn how this could help Washington residents.
NoHLA presents at legislative work session on Medicare affordability
On Wednesday, November 17th, the Joint Legislative Executive Committee on Planning for Aging and Disability Issues began their meeting spotlighting the lack of Medicare affordability in Washington. NoHLA Staff Attorney Ann Vining testified about how older adults and people with disabilities in Washington face additional financial challenges when they transition to Medicare. Washington is one...
Sign on to support immigrant families’ access to health care & other benefits
The Biden Administration is deciding what the federal “public charge” policy should look like. Organizations can join the Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) public comment letter by Wednesday, October 20th. An updated public charge regulation could ensure that future federal administrations cannot weaponize public charge policy against immigrant families. PIF’s comment responds to the Department of...
Health Priorities in Congress as Budget Fight Continues
NoHLA is working to lift up urgent health priorities in Congress considers spending priorities in its upcoming budget package. Working from priorities President Biden outlined in the Build Back Better proposal, Congressional leaders are working to try to pass a major policy package through “reconciliation” – a budget process that requires only a simple majority...
Support immigrant health care: restore public benefits and sign-on to the Washington health equity campaign
In 1996, Congress constructed an arbitrary five-year barrier preventing immigrants from accessing crucial public benefits that they support with tax dollars. Nearly thirty years later, this cruel policy still keeps many lawfully present Washington immigrants from accessing Medicaid. This month, Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) introduced legislation to restore access to essential health programs Medicaid and...
In solidarity: At least 7 million people lose access to essential health care in Texas
At NoHLA, we have worked for over two decades to ensure access to all health care, including reproductive care. While Washington has some of the strongest laws protecting reproductive access in the country, we are alarmed at the restrictions facing residents of Texas seeking abortions in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s recent decision...
Public coverage updates: big birthdays, congressional action, and get covered!
It’s been an action-packed summer for public health insurance programs! Here at NoHLA, we’ve been celebrating the birthdays of the triple pillars of American health coverage: Medicaid and Medicare, which turned 56 on July 30th, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which turns 24 today! These critical programs provide health insurance coverage to more...
Care without fear: Immigrants can access Medicaid and other Programs
We are heartened to see the federal government recently reaffirmed the long-standing guidance that accessing most public benefits should not have any bearing on immigration status. However, some people continue to fear being considered a “public charge” by the Department of Homeland Security. To help alleviate concerns, NoHLA has partnered with the Protecting Immigrant Families...
NoHLA welcomes our summer legal interns!
We are thrilled to have two great student interns who have just completed their first year of law school and are spending this summer working on a range of health access legal projects at NoHLA – Niloofar Irani and Rachel Khadivi. Niloofar Irani is a second-year law student at Seattle University. Niloofar attended UCLA and...