Washington Community Action Network

Washington CAN! is proud of the work we do every day in effecting positive change in our community. We couldn’t do this work without our dedicated and passionate members who raise their voice for fairness and equitable living standards. Here are just a few of our recent successes:

2008: Rate Hike Accountability

Washington CAN led a 2-year effort to successfully pass this new bill that increases the oversight authority of the Office of the Insurance Commissioner in the rate setting in the individual health insurance market.

2008: Health Care Working Group

Washington CAN supported legislation that creates a working group process that will conduct an actuarial study of several different health care proposals. This victory ensures a public process to discuss comprehensive health care reform.

2008: New Americans Initiative

Washington CAN was pleased to help advance the New Americans Initiative which creates a new two-year Policy Council to determine how the state can more effectively integrate immigrants into communities across Washington.

2007: Health Insurance Partnership

Washington CAN helped to create the Health Insurance Partnership (HIP) which will make quality health insurance coverage affordable for small business. Participating business will save by paying premiums with pre tax dollars. Low wage small business employees will receive premium support.

2007: Insuring all Children by 2010

Washington Can assisted with this huge victory that assures health care coverage for all children by 2010. Eligibility levels for public aid were set at 300% of the federal poverty level. Funding includes dollars for targeted outreach and for increased reimbursement rates for pediatric services.

2006: Improved Health Care Access

Washington CAN! worked with the state legislature to pass several key pieces of legislation that have expanded health care access for Washington residents, including increasing enrollment and cutting waiting lists for Basic Health and the Children’s Health Program. Through our Secure Health Care Campaign, Washington CAN! is working toward quality, affordable health care for all.

2006: Prevented Voter Disenfranchisement

New federal voter “matching” requirements threatened to disenfranchise thousands of voters whose information did not match records held in state computerized databases. Perhaps even more troubling, these matching procedures may have disproportionately impacted certain racial and ethnic groups. Washington CAN! was a lead plaintiff in a successful lawsuit that protected the right to vote for all registered Washington voters.

2005: Reduced the Price for Prescription Drugs

WCA organized and led the campaign to expand Washington state’s prescription drug purchasing pool. Based on savings realized by other states with similar buying consortiums, this new law should save Washington state agencies at least $65 million annually in direct prescription drug costs.

2005: Defeated Dangerous Co-pays in the state budget

WCA joined with the Statewide Poverty Action Network (SPAN) to lead the charge and rally in opposition to legislative proposals to force some of the poorest residents of our state to solve a state budget shortfall. The coalition organized by WCA and SPAN persuaded State House and Senate budget negotiators to delete provisions that would have mandated perscription drug co-pays for Medicaid recipients

2004: Registered more than 52,000 voters

WCA implemented the largest non-partisan civic engagement project in state history. Our voter registration drive signed up more than 52,000 voters from low income neighborhoods and communities of color, and our volunteers and staff contacted over 100,000 voters in the 4 weeks leading up to November 2, reminding them to get out and vote.

2004: Stopped the Premera conversion

WCA spearheaded the campaign to persuade Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler to deny Premera Blue Cross’ proposal to convert from a non-profit charity to a for-profit corporation. In rejecting Premera’s plan, Kreidler sided with WCA and health care consumers across the state, finding that conversion would be “unfair and unreasonable to subscribers, not in the public interest, and likely prejudicial to the insurance-buying public.”

2004: Passed Act for Hungry Families 2004

WCA led the coalition that successfully pushed for passage of the Act for Hungry Families. This law extends eligibility for Food Stamps to more than 25,000 additional people in Washington state, expands school lunch programs for the disadvantaged, and reduces administrative hurdles in the food assistance application process. Click here for a history of our work on this issue.

2004: Healthcare for Children

WCA helped persuade Governor Locke to suspend proposed Medicaid co-payments for low income families. This preserved health care coverage for an estimated 30,000 children in the state. Locke suspended the proposed payments until at least July 2005 and they were suspended indefinitely in 2005 by new Governor Christine Gregoire.

2003: Prescription Drug Fairness

WCA played a leadership role in a coalition of community organizations, seniors groups, labor unions, and faith-based groups that pressed the legislature to enact SB 6088. This law provides low- and moderate-income seniors and people with disabilities access to lower cost prescription drugs.

2002: Better access to Food Stamps

WCA succeeded in persuading the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) to reduce adminstrative hurdles that prevent needy families from accessing food assistance programs, including simplifying the food stamp application process and shorting the required paperwork from six pages to three.

2002: Protected Medicaid

WCA mobilized a deluge of letters and phone calls to decision-makers in Washington D.C., urging them to block Washington state’s request for a waiver that would have allowed the state to dramatically reduce Medicaid benefits for low income individuals. As a result of the efforts by WCA and others, the federal government rejected the state’s waiver request.

2000: Patients Bill of Rights Passed

WCA led the successful effort to enact the Patient’s Bill of Rights, one of the strongest in the country. This law allows state residents to hold their health care providers and insurance companies accountable, including the right to sue if the insurance company or health care provider failed to exercise standards of care in making decisions that affect his/her health.

1999: Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Passed

WCA and our coalition partners advocated for enactment of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides more than 10,000 children access to health care.

1998: Minimum Wage Raised in Washington State

WCA played a major role in the successful campaign for Initiative 668, which raised the minimum wage and index that wage annually to keep pace with inflation.

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A History of Success!

Activist and financial support from the grassroots, members like you, led to our many accomplishments.