By Jake Goldstein-Street | Reporter
The roughly 250,000 Washingtonians who get their health insurance on the state’s exchange under the Affordable Care Act are set to see cost increases in 2027. Washington Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer on Wednesday announced her office had approved an average of 22.2% rate increases for 13 insurers who offer plans through the exchange. This is after a similar hike took effect this year.
Jim Freeburg, executive director of the Patient Coalition of Washington, said the increases will have “real consequences for the Washington families and small businesses that purchase their coverage through the Exchange.”
“It’s going to cost my wife and I over $36,000 to cover ourselves and our two girls and that’s simply unfair for the coverage we’d get,” Freeburg said.
Also in today’s edition…
• Washington and other states sue over endangered species rollbacks.
• High costs for federal Medicaid cuts.
• And, the Trump administration’s moves to omit some noncitizens from the census.
News tips, feedback, questions? Email us: [email protected]
By Jake Goldstein-Street
The 2027 hike is mainly due to rising costs of healthcare and enrollees’ more robust needs, said Kuderer, the insurance commissioner.
“This is, unfortunately, a reflection of the increasing cost of care,” she said in a statement. “Families shouldn’t experience sticker shock every year when shopping for health insurance, but these pressures are likely to continue without changes that slow health care spending, improve affordability and keep more people covered.”
Enrollment through Washington’s exchange has already dropped significantly due to the expiration of federal tax credits that help pay for premiums.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist examines macroinvertebrates at the National Elk Refuge near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. A coalition of 21 attorneys general sued the agency Wednesday over rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act. (Photo by Kari Cieszkiewicz/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
By Alex Brown
A coalition of state attorneys general filed two lawsuits Wednesday challenging the Trump administration’s rollbacks of protections for endangered species. Washington joined 19 other states and the District of Columbia in the legal effort to reinstate rules that protect the habitat that endangered species depend on to survive.
“The federal government’s attempt to gut the Endangered Species Act threatens the habitats of orcas, sockeye salmon, and other endangered species that are part of our economy, culture, and way of life,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement.
By Shaanth Nanguneri
Over the next four years, Oregon will need to come up with nearly $1.3 billion to keep its current Medicaid system functioning due to cuts and restrictions from the GOP’s 2025 federal tax and spending law, state health officials told lawmakers Wednesday.
“I also need to be very candid with you,” Fariborz Pakseresht, interim director of the Oregon Health Authority, told members of a state Senate committee. “Even with our best work, there are going to be people who lose coverage.”
By Ariana Figueroa
The Trump administration wants to overhaul the U.S. census to exclude noncitizens who don’t have a green card from the country’s next population count in 2030. That’s according to a document set to be published Thursday in the Federal Register.
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