Articles written by Elizabeth Hovde
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OPINION
Masking requirements for Washington’s health care, long-term care and correctional facilities will end April 3, says the Washington state Department of Health. The ability for those facilities to continue mask precautions and the ability for individu...
OPINION
Washington state has been granted a waiver to federal law allowing it to offer health insurance and subsidies to noncitizens who unlawfully reside in the United States but who live within Washington state’s borders. The Dec. 9 announcement from t...
Guest Commentary
In August, I wrote about Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee negotiating away a COVID-19 booster requirement that he placed on some state workers in June. He said the requirement would bring a public health benefit and “ensure the health of our w...
Please exempt me? Workers seek a way out of new state payroll tax for good reason
Right now, the only people who can opt out of the WA Cares Fund, a new long-term-care (LTC) program that is supposed to be fueled by a payroll tax on workers, are those who had private long-term-care insurance (LTCI) purchased by Nov. 1, 2021. Their...
CDC acknowledges changing situation with COVID-19; Inslee has some catching up to do
Updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said COVID-19 recommendations will no longer differentiate based on vaccination status. CDC officials told reporters the new guidelines acknowledge that most Americans have some...
New COVID-19 messaging from governor is needed; old script is dangerous, booster case numbers concerning
Vaccine hesitancy has been continuously shamed by Gov. Jay Inslee and was again Saturday in an interview on Crosscut. People who don’t get vaccinated or boosted, according to the governor, are making an irresponsible choice, holding the rest of us b...
OPINION
A regressive payroll tax that was supposed to start being taken out of workers’ paychecks in January was delayed this morning. How? The same way Gov. Jay Inslee has been making rules and mandates without the Legislature since Feb. 29, 2020. In a p...
OPINION
The more people hear about Washington’s coming long-term-care law and payroll tax, the less people like it––and for good reason. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against it, an initiative is being pursued, and Idaho sent the state a cease-a...
GUEST COMMENTARY
The button works–for some people! Baby steps. If you have private long-term-care insurance (LTCI) and want to opt out of a new long-term-care payroll tax starting in January, you can apply for an exemption with the state of Washington starting t...