Title
A RESOLUTION advancing the Board of Health's commitment to actively supporting immigrant and refugee health access and requesting exploration of King County sponsorship towards that commitment.
Body
WHEREAS, health insurance facilitates access to care and is associated with lower death rates, better health outcomes, and improved productivity according to the American Hospital Association citing extensive research, and
WHEREAS, Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to medical care, and
WHEREAS, King County has reaffirmed its commitment to equity and social justice by recognizing limited access to safe and affordable healthcare for immigrants as a systemic problem affecting primarily people of color, in part when it recognized racism as a public health crisis, and
WHEREAS, many categories of immigrants have been excluded from federally funded health coverage; in 2023, approximately forty-two thousand noncitizens in King County were uninsured, and
WHEREAS, in 2019, public health - Seattle & King County released a study at the request of the King County council demonstrating significant disparities among uninsured noncitizens and exploring options for county-based health coverage, and
WHEREAS, the state of Washington has since acted to fill some coverage gaps for immigrants, but access and affordability challenges persist. In 2023, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Washington's 1332 waiver allowing individuals without a federally recognized immigration status to purchase qualified health and dental plans without federal subsidies through Washington's online marketplace for qualified health and dental plans. To account for the inability of people who are without a federally recognized immigration status to access federal premium tax credits and cost-sharing assistance, the legislature provided Cascade Care Savings state premium assistance subsidies up to two hundred fifty do...

Click here for full text