Basic Health in Your County
The interactive graph below allows you to look up the number of
people currently enrolled in Basic Health in your county, the number of
people that have been disenrolled since January 2009, and the number of
people on the Basic Health waiting list. Simply select your county (or
"statewide") from the drop down selector.
Basic Health is the only source of affordable health insurance for 70,000 Washingtonians, most of whom are working but have no access to employer-provided care. While Basic Health is a core part of the state's health care safety net, it falls far short of the need. Over the last year, budget cuts have eliminated coverage for over 35,000 people while a sour economy has dramatically increased the need for the program. As a result, the waiting list for Basic Health has grown by over 90,000 people and is now larger than total enrollment.
While the Governor's Book 2, the Senate, and the House Ways and Means budgets all preserve Basic Health, they all rely on passing revenue increases (and federal funding in the case of the House). Without moving quickly on revenue, Basic Health remains in jeopardy. And none of the proposals deal with the enormous and growing unmet need for the program.
