Governor Ferguson signs executive order to mitigate impacts of federal legislation gutting health care and food assistance

Gov Bob Ferguson announcing plans to preserve health care and food assistance for Washingtonians

Governor Bob Ferguson signed an executive order to help mitigate the impacts in Washington state from H.R. 1, federal legislation gutting health care and food assistance nationwide.

President Donald Trump signed H.R. 1 more than a year ago, cutting more than $1.3 trillion in health care and food assistance nationwide. Many health care coverage impacts are coming in the next several months.

Washington is required to implement H.R. 1, and has already been forced to spend nearly $100 million to do so. If Washington state were to pay for everything H.R. 1 cuts, it would cost an estimated $3.2 billion per biennium.

Two major impacts are coming in the next several months:

• Starting Oct. 1, H.R. 1 drastically limits the Medicaid eligibility for lawfully present immigrants. Before the state took action, 14,000 lawful immigrants were set to lose their Apple Health coverage.
• Starting Jan. 1, more than 600,000 Washingtonians will be subject to work requirements for the first time in order to keep their Apple Health coverage. These individuals will also be required to reapply twice as frequently.

“In the richest country in the world, Donald Trump is kicking the most vulnerable people off their health coverage,” Governor Ferguson said. 

“The Big Bad Betrayal Bill is devastating to our health care system. But we are not powerless. I asked my team to find ways to blunt the impact of H.R. 1 on Washingtonians, and they delivered. Their work has preserved health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians. The work continues, and my executive order lays out our next steps.”

Governor Ferguson highlighted two major achievements: 

• Saving Apple Health coverage for 3,000 Washington immigrants, and 
• Implementing an automated verification hub to help 400,000 Washingtonians keep their Apple Health coverage.

He also highlighted that even with these accomplishments, at least 200,000 are projected to lose their Apple Health coverage by the end of 2027 as a direct result of H.R. 1.

The governor encouraged everyone with Apple Health to make sure their information is current, and to look out for communications from Apple Health. He asked Washingtonians to help spread the word, and help loved ones verify their information.

The verification hub will bring together data that is already available to automatically confirm eligibility, so people don’t have to submit new paperwork every six months.

Washington state expects this will help 400,000 people keep their Apple Health.

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