SB 5945 would create a Washington Health Partnership plan intended to provide comprehensive coverage to all residents of the state. However, the plan proposed in this bill is not the same as the one outlined in SB 6333 from 2008. The current bill calls for a further study group to select “a health care reform proposal to be considered for legislative action.”

Hence, the “health partnership” proposed in SB 5945 is not a detailed plan. It is simply a proposal to create a working group composed of “representatives from the department of social and health sciences, the health care authority, the office of financial management, and the committees of the house of representatives and the senate responsible for health care matters.” No mention is made of including patients or health care providers in the working group.

SB 5945 would marginally expand Medicaid and S-CHIP and does allow for maximizing federal reimbursements.

Read the full Legislative Memo here