OLYMPIA, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Gov. Bob Ferguson is decrying federal funding cuts Washington will see under the budget bill recently passed by Republicans in Washington, D.C.
Gov. Ferguson even has his own name for the massive legislation.
“On the Medicaid cuts from this ‘Big Betrayal of a Bill,’ that will be at least a $3 billion hit to Medicaid funding in Washington state,” Gov. Ferguson said. “At least a quarter million Washingtonians will lose medicaid coverage. Another 150,000 will be priced out of the healthcare exchange.”
He told a Wednesday news conference that the loss in Medicaid funding will also threaten hospitals in our state, some of which he says will have to close.
The legislation also includes a one-year moratorium on Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, which would be a cut of $11 million for the organization in Washington.
Planned Parenthood has filed a lawsuit challenging the move, but Ferguson says the state is ready to help.
“If they are unsuccessful in that litigation, WA state will step up to backfill those dollars. That is critically important for us to do right now,” Gov. Ferguson said.
He says those funds would come from Washington’s Health Care Authority.
Ferguson also criticized cuts to the SNAP food assistance program, which he says will disproportionately affect rural Washington. He says these cuts and others are too much for the state to make up, and Washington residents will feel their effects for years.
