With just six months left before open enrollment begins for health benefit exchanges across the country, the results of the latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll paint a grim picture in terms of public understanding of the Affordable Care Act. 42% don’t know that it’s still law (or refused to answer). That figure includes 12 % who believe the law was repealed by (more…)
Sunday’s Washington Post featured an opinion-editorial co-authored by Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) president and chief executive Drew Altman, and senior vice president Larry Levitt highlighting recent analysis from KFF showing that we can expect to see increases in health care spending return as the economy improves. (more…)
The HHS budget released yesterday calls for $1.5 billion to implement (at least in part) the federal exchange for 33 states. Despite Republican’s ongoing refusal to increase funding, with some creative financing HHS maintains “we’ll be ready. No matter what.” (more…)
In March, a prominent annual assessment of health showed just how starkly different life can be county to county, state to state. It demonstrates that your ZIP code can dictate how long and how well you live. But it also shatters the argument that a dental shortage doesn’t exist in Washington.
For the first time ever, the assessment, known as the County Health Rankings and produced annually by the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, includes access to dental care as one of the key measures affecting health in a county. Oral health is critical to overall health yet thousands of Washingtonians can’t get it. The Rankings show just how dramatic the disparities are when it comes to getting dental care.
In Skamania County, the ratio of Washington residents to dentists is 11,122 to 1. Across the state, in Whitman County, it is 3,626 to 1. For the lucky residents of King County, the ratio is 1,063 residents to every dentist. (more…)
The News Tribune is reporting that Senate Republican budget will include Medicaid Expansion and is expected to out next week:
Lawmakers appear headed toward accepting the Medicaid expansion in President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Democrats and Gov. Jay Inslee have been on board for a while with expanding Medicaid health insurance to cover more than 200,000 additional people. House Republicans recently said their budget would include the expansion, which will reduce state medical costs by snagging federal funds to replace them.
The Republicans and two Democrats in the Senate majority have been coy about it, but their caucus chairwoman, Linda Evans Parlette, was more clear today.
“Everybody will recognize there is a bunch of money to book in the budget, and … as the Senate majority coalition, we are going to put out a budget with no new taxes. So you just have to look at all alternatives,” she said. (more…)
As a result of the 2012 elections, we knew there would be transitions in leadership. Today, a new coalition was formed by Senate Republicans along with Democrats, Sen. Tim Sheldon and Sen. Rodney Tom.
This coalition announced they would make changes in Committee leadership including electing Sen. Randi Becker to be the new Chairwoman of Health Care Committee, replacing Sen. Karen Keiser. Sen. Randi Becker represents parts of Pierce and Thurston counties. She will have a major impact in shaping health care reform in Washington this year, including the Health Insurance Exchange and the expansion of Medicaid.
This post was originally published at Crosscut.com.
This year’s campaign for governor has largely been focused on jobs and education, and for good reason. Those two issues are central concerns to many voters. (more…)
A new policy report from Kaiser Health News answers some common placed questions following the Supreme Court’s June 28 decision. In the report, questions are clearly answered with great detail and with the appropriate context – those answers can be viewed (more…)
The following was sent out today via email from David Hanig:
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I want to let you know that, after six years working for the Legislature, I am leaving the Senate Democratic Caucus. This has been a wonderful job – one that challenged me to stretch professionally and intellectually. (more…)
Last Thursday and Friday, Washington state gubernatorial candidates Jay Inslee (D) and Rob McKenna (R) took part in live chats hosted online by the Seattle Times. While both candidates fielded questions concerning various issues from education to tax policies, healthcare policy appeared to receive a large amount of attention during both chats. (more…)
