CHNW Policy State Policy State Policy

CHNW promotes public policies in Olympia that increase access to health insurance and health care, and reduce the number of uninsured people in our state. We partner with the Washington Association of Community and Migrant Health Centers (WACMHC) on policy and advocacy.

The Governor and legislature will face major challenges to balance the budget in the face of a continuing economic crisis that put the state into a $2 billion budget hole for the remainder of the 2011-13 biennium. 
   
It’s clear from recent revenue forecasts that our state is hurting. That is why now is the worst time to take an all-cuts approach to the budget. We can’t afford to eliminate safety net programs like Basic Health, Disability Lifeline and Apple Health for Kids that are sustaining Washingtonians who have lost their jobs and their health insurance.
    
Years of cuts have failed to bring us out of our current economic crisis and have stretched the safety net’s community health centers to their breaking point.  In the face of a $5.3 billion budget deficit last year, the community health center system was deeply impacted, taking $301 million in cuts to essential funding and programs. This deeply affected patients across the state who lost access to the care they need to stay healthy, working and in school. 
    
It is time to take a different approach.  We need a balanced option that includes sending a revenue referendum to the people to protect essential health care programs. 

The Governor’s budget took a step in the right direction by protecting the Apple Health for Kids program from the premium increases and program elimination options that had been previously considered.  Other key programs, however, remain in a very tenuous position.  While the proposal identified Basic Health and Disability Lifeline as priorities to be protected with new revenue funding, they are far from safe.  Eliminating these programs would be devastating and result in a loss of health coverage for over 57,000 people virtually overnight, putting lives at risk. 

    

In a positive move, this proposal does not include the elimination of services for 55,000 high risk pregnant women and essential Medicaid pharmacy coverage for 277,000 adults–both were included in previous lists. But it does propose eliminating coverage for 38,000 adults in need of dental care and 70,000 people who need medical interpretation assistance.  While Medicaid adult dental coverage is at the top of the Governor’s list of priority items to fund with new revenue, it remains in danger. 

    

The Legislature must build on the Governor’s proposals to create a balanced budget with the compassion and the foresight necessary to save health care and save lives.  Although the Governor suggests prioritizing new revenue funding to save key health care items, they remain slated for elimination in her budget.  In total, the hundreds of millions of dollars in proposed program eliminations would dismantle the primary care safety net that serves one-tenth of the state’s population. Eliminating coverage doesn’t eliminate the need for health care – it only increases the number of uninsured people seeking care at community health centers (CHCs) and expensive hospital emergency rooms.

     

The voters want to decide Washington’s future – send a revenue referendum to the people. A series of all-cuts budgets has not solved our economic crisis. The wisest investment for the state in these turbulent economic times is in its primary care safety net. These investments will ensure that our communities receive the right care, at the right time, in the right place and in a proven cost-effective manner. 

     

We urge the Legislature to let voters have a say in our state’s future by sending a revenue referendum to the people.  Recent polling demonstrates that voters are ready to raise taxes to save these key programs.  We also urge the Legislature to examine all additional revenue options on the table with as much scrutiny as they give potential cuts.  Together we can ensure that these cuts do not dismantle the safety net.
    

  

We strive for a health care system in which patients are getting their health care in a medical home setting. The state is implementing quality measures that will incentivize providers to integrate medical home components into their practices. Community Health Centers (CHCs) can serve as a model for these efforts. CHCs use a Health Care Home model, integrating medical, dental and behavioral health with comprehensive wrap-around services that maximize effectiveness of clinical care.

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