Concerns raised at a recent Senate health-care committee meeting about the loss of health-care coverage through Washington’s Apple Health program and other state-run plans have been known for years and are unrelated to the recent congressional passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to the Republican leader on the committee.

Sen. Ron Muzzall, R-Oak Harbor, offered the following reaction to comments made to the committee Tuesday by a representative of Gov. Bob Ferguson’s administration.

“Let’s set the record straight by going back to 2012 and the passage of the Affordable Care Act, when the feds committed to subsidizing premiums for health-care coverage available through the individual market. No one promised the subsidies would be extended, and no state should have assumed an extension was ever going to happen. Therefore, the fact that these subsidies are going to expire on schedule has nothing do with any action taken by the current administration in Washington, D.C.

“Also, we’re talking about two completely different populations. The insurance commissioner’s office told our committee earlier this year that the individual market accounted for roughly 224,000 people, or less than 3% of our state’s insured, while Medicaid enrollment is over 2 million, or about one in four Washingtonians. That distinction could and should have been made absolutely clear during the discussion Tuesday.

“I understand the concern that once the individual-market subsidies end, people will lose coverage because they can’t afford to pay higher health-care premiums. But again, think of the many people in our legislative and executive branches who knew for years that this deadline was coming, and still did nothing. I don’t recall any serious effort by the majority party or the previous and current occupants of the governor’s office to make this a priority, either from the budget side or through policy changes that would lower health-care premiums.

“Our committee was told by the administration that the decisions our state must make regarding the health-care arena are going to be tougher because Olympia is in its worst budget crisis ever. The reality is our state’s Medicaid system has been in dire need of reform for years, and the budget situation is self-inflicted. Governor Ferguson didn’t have to sign off on $12.2 billion in new taxes and all the new spending that was optional, but he did, and that means fewer options going forward.

“If the sky was truly falling, the governor could call us into a special session to deal with this now – but he isn’t going to, which tells me it’s not really a ‘crisis’ at all. I agree there are challenges ahead, but let’s deal in facts, not fiction. I trust the people to handle the truth. No one should be misleading them.”