Recent federal changes are making it more difficult for Washingtonians to access and maintain health insurance. While hundreds of thousands rely on Washington Healthplanfinder to find and enroll in coverage, new federal policies will leave many residents at risk of losing the care they need.
We at Washington Health Benefit Exchange are still doing all we can to help residents get health and dental insurance, regardless of immigration status. However, due to H.R. 1 and new rules impacting marketplace coverage, there are changes regarding immigrant eligibility and how much people pay for health insurance.
As of October 1, 2025, people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status no longer qualify for federal tax credits.
Ever since the MAGA Murder Bill (officially H.R. 1, the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act") was passed by Republicans in the U.S. Senate & House and signed into law by Donald Trump a few days ago, I've seen a growing conventional wisdom taking hold on social media: People keep claiming that either all, "nearly all" or at least "most of" the budget cuts & other gutting of various programs and departments won't actually kick in until after the November 2026 midterms.
Now, don't get me wrong--most of those making these claims are well-intentioned; they're saying this cynically, to underscore how disingenuous Congressional Republicans are by back-loading the pain until the midterms are safely in their rearview mirrors. And, to be fair, much of the damage won't being until well after next November.
Over at The New Republic, Greg Sargent has taken this thinking one step further, noting that by delaying so much of the ugliness of the new law until 2027 or beyond...
