The Legislature is considering a number of bills to address affordability of prescription drugs. These bills have passed the Senate or the House: SB 6087 (Keiser) would cap the out-of-pocket cost to patients for a 30-day supply of insulin at $100 per month. SB 6088 (Keiser) would establish a prescription drug affordability board that would...

TAKE ACTION! Senate Bill 6128, Extending coverage during the postpartum period, was referred to House Appropriations. We need to ensure it gets a hearing! Contact all members of the House Appropriations Committee, to request that they hear the bill and fund it in the budget. How to take action: Click here. Fill out your information....

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the request of 21 states, including Washington, for an expedited hearing in Texas v. U.S. (now referred to as California v. Texas) after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the individual mandate unconstitutional on December 18, 2019. If the Court grants certiorari — and it could still...

Last week, the Washington Legislature began its 2020 session with a new Speaker of the House: Representative Laurie Jinkins, the first woman and first openly gay Speaker!  This is the second year of our biennial legislature, so we have a shorter session lasting only 60 days, ending March 12. Bills need to move quickly to...

On January 1, 2020, expansions in health care coverage and protections from “surprise” medical bills took effect – the fruits of the 2019 Washington legislature: Surprise billing protections: Many patients will now be protected from being billed for out-of-network care during an emergency hospitalization or when receiving care at a facility within their insurance plan’s network. The...

NoHLA and other stakeholders participated in a work group to recommend the design of standard individual health insurance plans. The goal of the standard plans is to make plan comparisons more understandable and to offer more value for consumers. In the interest of consumers, we recommended that certain services such as primary care and generic...

Several community partners and Governor Inslee published insightful pieces about health care access. We recommend reading these analyses: U.S. v. Texas: Overturning ACA would adversely affect WA residents. Read more about the Governor’s position on U.S. v. Texas. Trump passed an executive order that aims to privatize Medicare.  Read more in an article by The...

This month, candidates who support health care access and oppose work requirements in Medicaid programs were victorious in three southern states.  In Kentucky, voters elected Andy Beshear, who ran on a platform of defending health care access and Medicaid coverage. Beshear defeated incumbent Republican Governor Matt Bevin, who had filed a waiver to impose work...

Have you or members of your family had trouble finding a dentist to help you stay healthy? The Washington Dental Access Campaign wants to hear about it. In many communities across Washington, dental care is out of reach. Without it, you can lose your teeth, your health—and even your life. The Washington Dental Access Campaign...

On November 6 a federal district judge in New York struck down a Trump Administration rule that embraced denying access to health care under the guise of promoting health care providers’ rights to follow their “conscience.” A May 2019 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule scheduled to take effect on November 22...