WA council member seeks local healthcare funding amid 'Big Beautiful Bill' Medicaid cuts

Federal Medicaid cuts tied to the so-called Big Beautiful Bill now in effect with more on the way, and one King County council member is pushing to find more local funding for health care to make up for the loss. Let's check in with Taylor Winkle live in the newsroom with more on a meeting that is happening later today to deal with this. Taylor, good morning. Hey, good morning, Bill. Yeah, so those federal budget cuts started kicking in October 1st, and King County reports an estimated 4,000 residents have already now lost their Medicaid coverage. County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda heads the County Board of Health. Her office says Harborview Medical Center's rate of uninsured patients has now jumped from fewer than 2% to more than 5% since those federal budget cuts first hit on October 1st. And they say that number is going to continue to climb come January when federal funding is trimmed even more. So at 9 o'clock this morning, in less than a half hour, she's set to present a plan to the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee that could raise upwards of $90 million annually. It goes back to the legislature over the last few years. State lawmakers passed measures enabling King County to collect property tax levies to raise money for public health centers and Harborview Medical Center. They will look like a 5-cent levy on your property tax. So about 40 bucks a year on an $800,000 home. To actually start collecting that money though, they need to be activated through local ordinances. And we've watched Mosqueda and other health leadership move to push these proposals out of committee onto a full King County Council agenda so they can vote on it. It comes ahead of January when new federal work verification requirements could strip Medicaid coverage more than 215,000 additional King County residents. In a meeting last month, Mosqueda explained they believe the pinch will go beyond that, though. And for anyone who thinks, well, I'm not on those programs, I don't qualify. That does sound tragic for those who are on there. I want to tell us all that our employer-based health insurance will probably be dramatically affected as well. So again, that meeting starts at 9 this morning. We will be monitoring it, let you know what happens. I'll send it back to you.