Bernbaum: addressing Medicaid cuts may be focus in next Legislative session

The state Legislature faces a “massive challenge” in its upcoming session.

That’s the message state Rep. Adam Bernbaum, D-Port Angeles, had for the Port Angeles City Council at their regular meeting last week.

A large portion of the session will be about the state’s response to federal changes in Medicaid, Bernbaum said.

“Kaiser Family Foundation estimates a $4 billion annual hit to Washington state on a biannual basis,” he said. “That’s the equivalent of 10 percent of Washington state’s budget. This is thinking mostly about the first order and most immediate effects. It is not considering some of the second-order effects that are going to come from these policy changes.”

Bernbaum referred to the federal Medicaid cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald T