Health

Republicans' plan to replace Obamacare, on a fast track through Congress, puts at risk our state's Medicaid program and reduces access to coverage for "our most vulnerable citizens," the president of the Washington State Medical Association said Thursday. The warning, from Dr. Shane Macaulay, supports an analysis delivered Thursday by Gov. Jay Inslee.   Under the… Read more »

Faced with sky-high private sector wages and turbulent-to-tanking morale, the U.S. government at all levels faces a worsening shortage of capable technologists, in part because of an exodus of top talent in key cybersecurity positions within the intelligence community. Getting highly sought-after people to come work for the government longterm is one question, but… Read more »

For more than seven years, Republicans have complained about the so-called Cadillac tax on the most expensive job-based health-insurance plans. But their health-care legislation—which abolishes the rest of the 2010 health law’s major tax increases—doesn’t repeal the tax. Instead, they propose to postpone the tax’s start date from 2020 to 2025, a concession… Read more »

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today released the following statement after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored Republican’s healthcare repeal bill: “While some may use ‘alternative facts,’ my constituents and I live in reality. And there is no denying that the CBO score confirms this is a dangerous and irresponsible bill that threatens to… Read more »

Movie producers, when they expect poor reviews, often won’t screen a movie for film critics before it’s released, pinning their hopes on advertising and hype to sell tickets. Something similar must have been behind House Republicans’ release of their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. President Trump is offering up hype via Twitter: “healthcare… Read more »

Seattle-area Reps. Dave Reichert and Suzan DelBene stuck with their respective parties in Thursday’s predawn hours, as a Republican-backed bill to abolish large portions of former President Obama’s health-care law moved forward. Reichert voted with his fellow Republicans to advance the bill through the House Ways and Means Committee, while DelBene sided with every Democrat in… Read more »

Less than two days after they unveiled their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, House Republicans are taking the first legislative steps toward enacting that legislation. The House Ways and Means Committee is holding a hearing — known as a markup — on the Republican bill, the American Health Care Act. Two Seattle-area members of Congress — Republican… Read more »

A report released by Democratic congresswoman Suzan DelBene on March 3 reveals that 421,100 individuals in congressional district 1 are on track to lose preventative health insurance coverage if the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, is repealed. The report was released just days before the U.S. House of Representatives rolled out a plan to repeal the ACA on March 6. In… Read more »

The House Ways and Means Committee early Thursday morning cleared its portion of a bill intended to gut Obamacare and partially replace it, taking the first step towards getting the legislation to the House floor. The committee completed its markup of its part of the American Health Care Act, the GOP leadership's bill to gut Obamacare and partially replace it. The committee's portion… Read more »

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) joined colleagues in writing to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) urging them to look into improving access to genetic testing and patient outcomes through precision medicine. “Investments in genomics research have led to the development of technologies that present nearly… Read more »