“Dreamers” – immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children without documents – are unclear about what will happen next given the Administration’s announcement terminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Check out this new fact sheet from NoHLA for more information about Dreamers’ access to health care in Washington State.

We wrote about the HHS draft strategic plan in early October. Comments were due last week and NoHLA joined the many organizations expressing concern for the direction the Department of Health & Human Services is heading in. Our comments addressed the Strategic Plan’s implications for reproductive health, people with disabilities, health equity, LGBT populations, and...

Over 50 people joined NoHLA at our Continuing Legal Education Seminar last Friday. We had many great speakers and topics. Executive Director, Janet Varon, went live on Facebook to share some key takeaways. Thank you to our amazing sponsors, presenters, and volunteers for helping us to present “Advocating for Health Care Consumers in Uncertain Times.”

Ten years ago, the Health Coalition for Children and Youth worked with House Speaker Frank Chopp, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and Governor Christine Gregoire to pass landmark legislation to Cover All Kids by 2010. Due to this effort and the Health Care Authority’s implementation of Apple Health for Kids, we are celebrating that less...

An Executive Order directed the Administration to consider expanding access to association health plans, short-term limited duration insurance plans and health reimbursement arrangements in employer sponsored coverage. The intent is to undermine the ACA’s consumer protections. The impact will be clearer once proposed rule changes become available, but we fear skimpy benefit plans and additional...

When President Trump announced that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program would end in March 2018, it devastated 800,000 “dreamers” and their families. Unfortunately, without the protection of DACA, these young adult immigrants may be fearful of accessing health care services. They generally have limited health insurance coverage options and have difficulty accessing...

This was the rallying cry after new interim final rules were released expanding ACA contraceptive coverage requirement exemptions. The new rules would allow any company to deny coverage for contraceptive services to its female employees based on religious grounds. Additionally, certain types of organizations would also be able to deny this coverage on moral grounds. Requiring...

Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria last month. During a debt crisis, they also faced Zika virus last year. It became clear during that public health emergency that Puerto Rico’s Medicaid block grant was insufficient and did not have enough flexibility to help address the crisis. Now it is worse. “Treating the health needs...

The Administrations action to stop CSRs may light a fire under Congress to authorize the CSRs and may even help to stabilize the individual market. But Congress also has important programs to reauthorize, including the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Community Health Center (CHC) Fund. These are critical safety net programs and must...

The Kaiser Family Foundation October Health Tracking Poll finds public support for stabilizing the ACA marketplace with guaranteed CSR payments. Most importantly, 71% of respondents would prefer to see the Trump Administration make the ACA work. A recent poll shows that Jimmy Kimmel won the health care debate in the court of public opinion. Kimmel...