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...

A lawsuit from 18 states will move forward challenging the elimination of cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments. However, the judge denied the states’ request to require the federal government to continue making payments, finding there was insufficient evidence of immediate and irreparable harm to states and consumers. The elimination of CSR payments will primarily impact Exchange...

Senator Mitch McConnell is holding off action on the Alexander-Murray bipartisan deal while waiting for a commitment from President Trump that he would approve. The legislation was announced two weeks ago and would fund the cost-sharing reductions and partially restore outreach and enrollment funding for two years, while also removing restrictions on the sale of...

Both the House and the Senate recently approved a budget resolution for 2018. It may not matter since it is essentially an outline, but it signals the Republican majority’s intention to make significant cuts to health care and other important safety net programs. “Significant” equals over $1.8 trillion over the next decade. This is very...

As we celebrate 10 years of state- and federally-supported Apple Health for all Washington kids, we recognize that federal inaction puts the entire program in jeopardy. The House is planning to vote on a Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) reauthorization bill this week. Democrats oppose the House bill’s proposed 75% cut from the Prevention and...