TAKE ACTION: Contact your Representatives and Senator to ask them to support E2SHB 1523, 2SSB 5526 and 2SSB 5822, especially if they are on a health care committee or in a swing district. Find your Representatives and Senator here. Midway through our legislative session, we’re watching bills to address systemic problems in our health insurance...

We have often heard consumers speak out about their frustration with getting care in a timely fashion through their insurance plan. This legislative session, House Bill 1099, sponsored by Representative Laurie Jinkins, addresses access to mental health and chemical dependency treatment. The bill is one of many this year intended to improve access to behavioral...

TAKE ACTION: Contact your Washington State Senator to urge passage of SB 5602! Click here for a list of senators and a script. The Reproductive Health Care Access for All Act (RHAA) would be a step toward attaining reproductive health equity for Washingtonians. The bill (SB 5602), currently in Senate Rules after passing out of...

We’re thrilled to welcome Charlie Mitchell to the NoHLA team as Senior Attorney. We asked him to share a little about himself: I am delighted to join the NoHLA team as Senior Attorney after 28 years as a civil legal aid attorney. I grew up in Seattle and the Portland area, and graduated from Whitman College...

By Ann Vining, NoHLA Staff Attorney Policymakers in Washington State have worked for several years to develop an affordable way for state residents to pay for coverage of long-term services and supports (LTSS) – coverage that offers an alternative to Medicaid. The majority of people over sixty-five years of age will need LTSS within their...

By Ann Vining, NoHLA Staff Attorney In 2002, Washington State began offering a Medicaid program designed for people with disabilities who engage in employment, shortly after Congress passed legislation to allow this. Washington’s “Healthcare for Workers with Disabilities (HWD)” program allows workers with disabilities to work without losing services that only Medicaid provides, including residential...

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....