Last month, the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council reported that Washington faced running out of money by 2027. With the passage of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the state now faces the loss of billions in Medicaid funding that could exacerbate Washington’s fiscal woes in the upcoming legislative sessions.
“We’re in the worst budget crisis we’ve ever had,” Gov. Bob Ferguson’s Senior Health Policy Advisor Caitlin Safford told the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee at its Tuesday meeting.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacts changes to Medicaid eligibility, which is expected to significantly reduce the number of Washington residents on the program, known in the state as Apple Heath. While Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., recently claimed 250,000 would lose coverage and cause more than a dozen hospitals to close, Health Care Authority Medicaid Director Charissa Fotinos told the Health & Long-Term Care Committee she estimated 100,000 would lose coverage.
While she said that “we can’t say with any certainty how many people will lose coverage and how much money it will cost the state over the 10-year period,” she added that “the impacts will significant.”
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Author: Ray Hilbrich
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