WA health care expansion for low-income immigrants on track to be maintained
Washington began to offer Medicaid-like health care coverage last year for thousands of low-income immigrants living in the state without legal status.
Now, with talks over the next two-year state budget in their final stages, lawmakers are looking to maintain the expansion. But enrollment in the program remains capped based on available funding and legislators are not on track to change that this year.
Rep. My-Linh Thai, D-Bellevue, introduced a bill early in the session that would have opened the program to all immigrants who meet the income eligibility guidelines and other requirements.
Her bill, which would have created additional costs for the state at a time when lawmakers are trying to solve a budget shortfall, never got a hearing. Thai also said there was controversy about language referring to noncitizens as “Washingtonians.”
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/04/18/wa-health-care-expansion-for-low-income-immigrants-on-track-to-be-maintained/