Washington:

Coverage to All Children

Legislative History

2005: The Tide Turns
Chris Gregoire (D) became Washington’s Governor in 2005, with a campaign promise to cover all children in the state. Days after being sworn in she directed the Health and Recovery Services Administration (HRSA; the state agency responsible for Medicaid and SCHIP) to return to a 12-month continuous eligibility period for children in Medicaid and SCHIP and issued a postponement in implementing monthly Medicaid premiums for children. The 2005 legislative session also ended with a partial restoration of the program for immigrant children (a limited number of slots up to 100 percent of the FPL) and the establishment of a new state goal to cover all children in Washington by 2010.

2006: Continued Progress
The efforts to cover children continued during the 2006 legislative session. With advocacy by the Health Coalition for Children and Youth (HCCY) and continued support from the Governor, the Legislature eliminated the waiting list of over 15,000 children for the state program serving immigrant children and placed a permanent prohibition on proposed monthly Medicaid premium increases. Both of these goals were achieved during the 2006 session. Throughout these efforts, two champions in the House of Representatives emerged as key in laying the groundwork for finishing the job in the coming legislative session, Speaker of the House Frank Chopp (D) and Representative Judy Clibborn (D), the prime sponsor of the legislation to cover all children by 2010.

2007: Adopting the Policies
During the summer of 2006 until the start of the 2007 legislative session, the HCCY crafted a broad proposal that included the policies necessary to cover all children in the state by 2010. At the same time, staff from the Governor’s Office, the Speaker of the House, and the Senate Majority Leader’s Office remained committed to the 2010 goal and engaged in a process to develop a proposal for the 2007 legislative session. The resulting proposal by HCCY provided helpful input to this process and resulted in a strong consensus plan that could successfully be passed during the 2007 session. It included a children’s coverage expansion, provisions to increase enrollment of eligible children, and policies to address problems with access and quality through linking children with a medical home. Many components of this proposal were incorporated into the Governor’s requested legislation that was introduced in the House and Senate, both with Democratic majorities, during the 2007 legislative session.

However, the Governor’s legislation and budget only allowed coverage for all children, regardless of immigration status, up to 250 percent of the FPL (the state already covered children eligible for Medicaid and SCHIP up to 250 percent of the FPL). Both the House and Senate amended the legislation so that it called for expanding health coverage for all children, regardless of immigrations status, up to 300 percent of the FPL and allowing families above 300 percent FPL to buy-in at the full cost of coverage. The later version of the Senate bill was passed by both chambers and signed by Governor Gregoire on March 13, 2007, a little more than two months after the start of the legislative session.