{"id":3203,"date":"2026-04-23T15:11:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/?p=3203"},"modified":"2026-05-03T17:49:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:49:39","slug":"protecting-access-to-affordable-health-care-in-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2026\/04\/23\/protecting-access-to-affordable-health-care-in-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting access to affordable health care in Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dear friends and neighbors,<\/p>\n<p>This session the Legislature continued to work to ensure everyone in Washington has access to quality, affordable health care. In the face of devastating federal funding cuts, we worked to ensure people have safe, consistent access to reproductive care, vaccines, and other essential services and by making the health care marketplace fairer for consumers. The state budget backfills Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood and includes funding for very ill or disabled Washingtonians who were kicked off Medicaid, reaffirming Washington\u2019s commitment to health care access, regardless of harmful actions at the federal level.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=5917&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=False\"><strong>SB 5917<\/strong><\/a> expands abortion access and reproductive rights with legislation expanding the availability of mifepristone pills, which are essential to both medicinal abortions and miscarriage care.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=6182&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=False\"><strong>SB 6182<\/strong><\/a> sets up a permanent funding source for abortion clinics like Planned Parenthood. This will help patients in Washington continue to access affordable, essential reproductive health care.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Protecting Science-Based Health Care<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/BillSummary\/?BillNumber=2242&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false\"><strong>HB 2242<\/strong><\/a> will ensure Washingtonians have access to affordable preventative services, including vaccines, well-child visits, cancer screenings, and chronic disease management. The new law also shifts the authority for recommending covered vaccines from the federal government to the Washington State Department of Health, protecting access to preventive care based on valid science and evidence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Protecting Access for Vulnerable People<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/BillSummary\/?BillNumber=5981&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false\"><strong>SB 5981<\/strong><\/a> prohibits drug companies from placing restrictions on the use of contract pharmacies\u00a0in the 340B program, so\u00a0hospitals and clinics\u00a0can continue to serve vulnerable members of their communities.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/BillSummary\/?BillNumber=6183&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false\"><strong>SB 6183<\/strong><\/a> ensures that HIV prevention and treatment medications are available without prior authorization and step therapy, ensuring early treatment and preventing transmission.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=2152&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=False\"><strong>HB 2152<\/strong><\/a> requires hospitals, nursing homes, and hospice care centers to allow the medical use of cannabis by qualifying patients with a terminal condition.\u00a0It will guarantee patients are able to\u00a0use medical cannabis instead of other stronger pain\u00a0medications\u00a0during treatment for a terminal illness, helping them to\u00a0retain\u00a0a higher quality of life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Making the Health Care Marketplace Fairer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=2548&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=False\"><strong>HB 2548<\/strong><\/a> will help shield patients from the high cost of hospital mergers.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=5395&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=False\"><strong>SB 5395<\/strong><\/a> protects patients and providers from\u00a0unfair prior authorization practices. The bill\u00a0prohibits the use of AI for\u00a0prior authorization\u00a0denials,\u00a0requires easily accessible notices of\u00a0prior authorization\u00a0changes, and\u00a0prohibits retrospective denials.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=2155&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=False\"><strong>HB 2155<\/strong><\/a> ensures transparency for patients, so that chatbots and other online tools\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0use the title of nurse.\u00a0As the use of AI technology in health care grows, this\u00a0bill\u00a0ensures there\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0confusion about whether medical information is coming from a licensed professional.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=5845&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=False\"><strong>SB 5845<\/strong><\/a> helps ensure that providers stay solvent and\u00a0are able to\u00a0keep up with their\u00a0expenses and\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0left waiting for payment on claims that should be paid\u00a0or having payments clawed back\u00a0after\u00a0long periods\u00a0of time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. If you missed my newsletters on\u00a0the <a href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2026\/03\/19\/millionaires-tax-passes-as-2026-session-ends\/\">Millionaires Tax<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2026\/03\/26\/legislature-increases-support-for-affordable-housing\/\">affordable housing<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2026\/04\/03\/protecting-our-rights-and-freedoms-from-federal-overreach\/\">efforts to protect Washington from the Trump administration<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2026\/04\/10\/legislature-protects-lgbtq-rights\/\">LGBTQ+ rights<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2026\/04\/17\/construction-budget-builds-housing-and-reduces-carbon-emissions\/\">community investments<\/a>, they are available on my <a href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/\">website<\/a>. Please don\u2019t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions at <a href=\"mailto:Jamie.Pedersen@leg.wa.gov\">Jamie.Pedersen@leg.wa.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Best wishes,<\/p>\n<p>Jamie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear friends and neighbors, This session the Legislature continued to work to ensure everyone in Washington has access to quality, affordable health care. In the face of devastating federal funding cuts, we worked to ensure people have safe, consistent access to reproductive care, vaccines, and other essential services and by making the health care marketplace fairer for consumers. The state budget backfills Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood and includes funding for very ill or disabled Washingtonians who were kicked off Medicaid, reaffirming Washington\u2019s commitment to health care access, regardless of harmful actions at the federal level. Protecting Access to Reproductive&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":3204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-news","category-news-release"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Protecting access to affordable health care in Washington - Sen. Jamie Pedersen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2026\/04\/23\/protecting-access-to-affordable-health-care-in-washington\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protecting access to affordable health care in Washington - Sen. Jamie Pedersen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear friends and neighbors, This session the Legislature continued to work to ensure everyone in Washington has access to quality, affordable health care. In the face of devastating federal funding cuts, we worked to ensure people have safe, consistent access to reproductive care, vaccines, and other essential services and by making the health care marketplace fairer for consumers. The state budget backfills Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood and includes funding for very ill or disabled Washingtonians who were kicked off Medicaid, reaffirming Washington\u2019s commitment to health care access, regardless of harmful actions at the federal level. Protecting Access to Reproductive...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2026\/04\/23\/protecting-access-to-affordable-health-care-in-washington\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sen. 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