by Agueda Pacheco Flores
Undocumented immigrants have been ineligible for state health insurance, but now Washington has opened its health insurance market to potentially more than 105,000 undocumented people.
Continue reading Washington State’s Insurance Marketplace Now Open to Undocumented Peopleby Dr. Julian Perez
As a provider at Sea Mar, a safety net community health center, I see the reality of our health care system: When people don’t have a way to pay for health care, they delay getting care until it’s an emergency. To make matters worse, many lifesaving treatments, like organ transplants, are only available to patients with insurance.
Continue reading OPINION | Treat Workers With Dignity; Expand Access to Insurance for Everyone in Washingtoncurated by Vee Hua 華婷婷
by Ansel Herz
Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland made history in January, becoming the first Korean-American woman ever elected to Congress and the first African-American representative from Washington State. A former Tacoma mayor and head of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, she succeeded Denny Heck as the congressperson for the 10th District — spanning Tacoma, Lakewood, Puyallup, and Olympia, with a median income of $55,000 — winning handily over self-identified progressive Democrat Beth Doglio.
The Emerald spoke to Strickland about her first month in office, the January 6 attack on the nation’s capital, COVID relief, her goals for her first-term, and police brutality.
Continue reading Rep. Marilyn Strickland Talks About Historic First Session in Congressby Chamidae Ford
Bridgette Hempstead, the founder of Cierra Sisters, received her breast cancer diagnosis on her 35th birthday. A diagnosis she had to fight tooth and nail to get.
When Hempstead went to the doctor intending to get a mammogram, her doctor urged her not to — not just because she was young, but because she was Black.
Continue reading Cierra Sisters Host Annual World Cancer Day Event Dedicated to Embracing Knowledgeby Carolyn Bick
Washington State’s undocumented workers waiting for the same kind of economic relief their documented peers receive will have to keep waiting, Gov. Jay Inslee’s office told the Emerald. They also won’t be eligible for the state’s first public option health program, Cascade Care, when it begins next year.
In late May, Inslee said his office was looking into the possibility of creating a novel coronavirus pandemic relief fund for undocumented workers, who are ineligible to receive unemployment benefits or federal economic relief. In an email to the Emerald on July 10, Inslee’s Deputy Communications Director and Press Secretary Mike Faulk said that the reason a fund is taking so long is due to a number of factors, including the complexity of the task and the recent mandate that requires certain staff members to take one furlough day per week, in an effort to cut costs.
Continue reading Undocumented Workers Must Wait on COVID-19 Relief Fund, Will Not Be Eligible for State’s First Public Option Health Program
