By Bill Lucia | Editor
Drivers with lower incomes will soon be eligible for discounted tolls on two expressways in the Puget Sound region. It’s the first time Washington is experimenting with allowing people with Good to Go! passes to pay reduced toll rates based on income. The discounts will become available in December on segments of state routes 509 and 167.
Also in today’s edition…
Premera Blue Cross and MultiCare, which operates more than a dozen hospitals in Washington, reach a deal on in-network reimbursement rates.
A bipartisan group of nearly four dozen state lawmakers voices support for keeping a program for families of children with developmental disabilities.
And, the data center industry’s public relations push in Oregon and other states.
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In December, Washington plans to begin offering a toll discount for drivers with lower incomes on State Route 509 expressway (above) and the State Route 167 expressway. (Photo courtesy of Washington State Department of Transportation)
By Jerry Cornfield
The Washington State Transportation Commission approved the discount toll program last week after months of discussion. People will be able to sign up in the fall, but will need to take steps to prove income eligibility. To qualify, a person’s income must be no more than 200% of the federal poverty level — currently $31,920 for an individual. On the two covered stretches of roadway, tolls range from $1.20 to $2.40 during peak hours, meaning daily commuters could save a couple hundred dollars a year. The discounts won’t apply for tolls paid by mail. The program could eventually expand to the Highway 520 bridge, Interstate 405, and Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
(Photo by Getty Images)
By Jake Goldstein-Street
The MultiCare and Premera Blue Cross deal on in-network rates follows months of negotiations. Earlier this year, Premera informed about 100,000 households that MultiCare services could result in out-of-network insurance costs as the two sides were having difficulties reaching an agreement. Both sides confirmed Tuesday that they had a tentative deal, though some details still needed to be worked out. MultiCare had said Premera’s reimbursement rates are “among the lowest” compared to other insurers. Premera Blue Cross said increased reimbursements would potentially trickle down, contributing to higher premiums for enrollees and added costs for employers.
By Jake Goldstein-Street
Forty-four state lawmakers signed onto a letter to Gov. Bob Ferguson and Department of Social and Health Services Secretary Angela Ramirez urging the state to maintain its Parent to Parent program. The program offers support for families of children with autism and other developmental disabilities. It pairs newer parents with more experienced ones to help guide them through the complicated system of resources for their kids and other issues. Participants say the program is valuable and it gets tens of thousands of requests for help each year. But it appears to be under threat as the state heads into another round of tough budget talks. “The Parent to Parent program represents exactly the kind of investment government should protect,” the lawmakers wrote. The program costs the state $900,000 a year.
By Alex Baumhardt
The Data Center Coalition, an industry group whose members include Microsoft, Google, Meta and others, is behind a network of promotional campaigns geared toward countering common criticisms of data centers. Television ads from groups like Oregon Connects, Virginia Connects and Pennsylvania Connects have popped up in multiple states. “Oregon’s data centers: committed to paying their costs, so Oregon families don’t,” said an ad in Oregon that ran as state lawmakers were weighing whether to pause a tax incentive program for data centers. “If data centers were truly ‘committed to paying their costs, so Oregon families don’t,’ then they wouldn’t be taking hundreds of millions of dollars in property tax abatements each year,” said Juan Carlos Ordóñez, communications director of the left-leaning nonprofit Oregon Center for Public Policy, who criticized the Oregon Connects ad campaign.
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