Federal Policy
The Community Health Network of Washington (CHNW) promotes public policies to increase access to health insurance and health care and reduce the number of uninsured people in our state.
This March, we celebrated the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act and reflected on the important changes that have already taken place. One of the most important for us was the receipt of federal funding to help shore up the Basic Health and Disability Lifeline programs. The following populations specifically benefited from the new health law in the first year:
- Seniors – Closing the Medicare “donut” hole will be phased-in between now and 2020. In 2010, over 62,500 Medicare beneficiaries reached the coverage gap received a $250 rebate.
- Small business employees – Tax credits will be provided to small employers with fewer than 25 employees and average annual wages of less than $50,000 that provide health insurance for employees. The tax credit will be 35% of the employer’s contribution toward health insurance if certain conditions are met.
- Children and young adults – Beginning September 1, 2010, health insurance coverage was made available to unmarried dependents up to the age of 26 and children cannot be denied coverage or treatment due to pre-existing conditions, to lower costs for people with pre-existing conditions to purchase coverage. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) shows that in the first quarter of 2011, the percentage of adults between the ages of 19 and 25 with health insurance increased by 3.5 percentage points, representing approximately 1 million additional young adults with insurance coverage compared to a year ago.
- Individuals with pre-existing conditions – Federal funding allowed the state to create a new high risk pool, the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan
Our current federal advocacy efforts include:
- Protecting Medicaid and the Community Health Centers across the state from harmful budget cuts that could shift costs to beneficiaries and providers
- Providing input and comment to federal agencies about how the new health reform law should be implemented at the state level
- Supporting efforts to better integrate and manage care for dual eligible individuals and other high cost populations
- Fix Medicare physician payments: Repeal the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) and update the fee-for-service reimbursement system.
