As we head into November, all eyes are on the other Washington. Our state’s health care system will be fundamentally shaped by the next few weeks, as the election proceeds and  Judge Amy Coney Barrett takes a seat on the Supreme Court after yesterday’s rushed confirmation. Against this backdrop, the Supreme Court will hear oral...

State agency budget decision packages were posted to the Office of Financial Management website last week. As expected, they appear to include most – if not all – of the cuts identified in the savings options exercise that agencies undertook this spring at the direction of the Governor in light of significant expected revenue shortfalls.   The...

We are thrilled to welcome Emily Brice as our Senior Attorney & Policy Advisor. We should say, we’re welcoming her back, as she was a NoHLA staff attorney from 2011-13. In the interim, Emily has gained a depth of experience and knowledge that will strengthen NoHLA’s advocacy efforts tremendously. Emily says, “I’m so pleased to...

As we collectively mourn the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we at NoHLA are reflecting on her role as a fierce champion for equity, justice, and human compassion. As a lawyer and a jurist, her trailblazing work has advanced the causes of access to health care, reproductive rights, civil rights including for...

In this time of unprecedented challenges, health disparities have been magnified and many Washington residents still do not have access to affordable health care. Yet discussions are underway about budget cuts. Recently, in response to the forecasted revenue shortfalls, state agencies including the Health Care Authority participated in an exercise to project budget cuts of...

As COVID infections surge, more than 1500 people in Washington state have died from the disease and over a million residents have filed for unemployment, a high percentage of us need help to get through this tough time and take care of our families. Yet rather than propose a package commensurate with the scale of...

The Trump Administration has long been working to undermine the Affordable Care Act, including the strong regulations implementing its non-discrimination protections in ACA Section 1557. This month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services chose to officially rollback these protections for people historically subjected to discrimination, in the midst of a global pandemic disproportionately...

To achieve health equity, we must address racism and address the associated health disparities that are now greatly magnified by COVID-19. NoHLA, along with many others in the health care, advocacy, and public health communities, demands action to address racism and related disparities as they affect health. Here are a few of the groups and...

In the middle of a global pandemic, the federal administration is still trying to take down the Affordable Care Act, wasting time and money on a lawsuit designed to collapse our health care system.  It’s hard for us to imagine, too.  Here is the latest on what is happening, provided by Community Catalyst:  The Health...

We are thrilled to see the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this month that maintained the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the Trump Administration did not follow proper legal procedures in terminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2017. This decision means...