See highlights from the State of Reform conference featuring Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Patient Coalition of Washington Executive Director Jim Freeburg, “Health care is extremely complicated. Getting everybody together in the same room is really where you can make a difference and move the dialogue forward.”

Health care advocates are celebrating the Washington State Senate’s passage of the Keep Our Care Act. Bill sponsor, Sen. Emily Randall, (D-Bremerton) said the policy was about ensuring Washingtonians had meaningful access to their legally enshrined reproductive rights. “A right without access is not a right,” Randall said.

Hospitals and health systems may have to report more information about how mergers would affect the care they provide if a controversial bill that passed the state Senate on Thursday becomes law. 

In this ad during the Super Bowl, 2024 Grammy-winning Best Country Album Artist Lainey Wilson, 2024 2x Grammy-nominated break-out country music star Jelly Roll, and 2023 Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Valerie June call for a more affordable and equitable healthcare system through price transparency.

In this ad during the Super Bowl, Fat Joe demands the existing rules on hospital price transparency be enforced, saying “prices are now a patient’s right and they’re breaking the law whenever they hide them.”

They say that it’s impossible to tackle the high cost of health care, but Washington Health Care Authority Director Sue Birch and Washington Health Alliance Executive Director Drew Oliveira disagree and chart a path for public and private organizations, employers, health plans and providers to help us achieve improved access, better quality, and more affordable care.

Dr. Bob Crittenden acknowledges that reducing the cost of insulin, hearing aids, and cancer screenings is a step in the right direction, but “we need more real changes if we’re going to have affordable health care for all of us.”

Dr. Debra Glasser, a retired internal medicine physician in Olympia, offers her perspective as on how our healthcare system got here and how our healthcare can be responsive, accessible, available, and affordable for all.

Health care costs have become consistently unaffordable for many Washingtonians, according to two new reports that identify consolidation as a primary cause. Read Patient Coalition of Washington Executive Director Jim Freeburg’s recommendations to lawmakers for how they can address it.

Patients and consumers aren’t the only ones hurting. This presentation describes how small businesses are also deeply affected by high health care costs.