Washington state has expanded new health insurance options for undocumented immigrants, but thousands of eligible individuals still await coverage.
In June, Washington began providing Apple Health, or state Medicaid, to undocumented persons with incomes below 138% of the poverty line. That’s $20,874 for a single person or $28,212 for a two-person family.
However, there was a budget cap of $76.8 million, so only the first 12,000 or so eligible applicants received insurance. Most age groups were fully enrolled in the program within two days.
Approximately 8,000 people are on a waiting list, eligible for the program but unable to enroll owing to restricted funds.
“If that says anything about the need for this program, it’s quite high,” said Sasha Wasserstrom, Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network’s policy director.
Julián Pérez, a doctor at SeaMar Community Health Center in White Center, treats many undocumented and low-income patients. He stated that many of them applied for Apple Health after it became available. One of the patients was a hotel worker who required knee surgery.
“This patient says, ‘I can scarcely walk. I have to work. “Who’s going to feed my children?” Pérez said. “She didn’t have insurance, so her only bet was to join in line and wait for charity care. It will be many months.”
But then she acquired Apple Health, which allowed her to arrange her knee surgery within a month.
Pérez stated that he had many more patients who did not get in. And when people do not have health insurance, he claims, they avoid going to the doctor.
“Typically, they would come to us very advanced in their disease,” the doctor stated. “When they finally come in — with renal failure or fevers and seizures — that’s usually when we would see them.”
Wasserstrom of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network stated that the state has done “very minimal outreach, so if we were to go all in on outreach, we’d find that there are so many more folks who would be eligible for this program.”
They have asked state lawmakers to completely abolish the budget cap and provide Apple Health insurance to all income-eligible Washington citizens.
Another additional option for illegal individuals in Washington, available since November 2023, is to purchase health insurance through the state’s exchange. They can also qualify for state assistance, but not federal ones.
However, the offered plans, “even with state subsidies, [are] very inaccessible to folks,” Wasserstrom added. “Community members are asking, ‘What’s the point of having access if we can’t afford it?'” This is a $700 monthly cost for people—at least for some of them—and it’s simply too much.”
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