State-based taxpayer-financed health care increases

At their Aug. 15 meeting, members of Washington state’s ongoing Universal Health Care Commission talked about recommending further expansion of, and money for, a Medicaid-like program for low-income adults who are undocumented immigrants.

The program, called Apple Health Expansion, is shouldered by Washington state taxpayers alone, unlike Medicaid. Medicaid is funded by a federal-state partnership and is not available to people who entered the U.S. unauthorized or who were lawfully admitted but whose status expired or was revoked.

Becky Carrell, a director for Medicaid programs with the state’...