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Council hearing hears wide alarm over Alliance, gets update on Healthy DC rollout
Summary
Councilmember Christina Henderson convened a Dec. 3 roundtable with hundreds of public witnesses and government officials to review FY26 changes that reduced DC Healthcare Alliance eligibility and moved thousands of Medicaid recipients into the new Healthy DC Plan; providers and advocates urged restoration of benefits and clearer outreach.
Chair Christina Henderson opened the Committee on Health’s Dec. 3 roundtable, saying the session would examine changes to the FY26 budget that altered the DC Healthcare Alliance and Medicaid and asked agencies to explain implementation and outreach efforts.
The hearing featured more than 50 public witnesses — patients, clinic directors, nurses, physicians and advocates — who warned that eligibility cuts and benefit reductions that began Oct. 1 have already disrupted care. Abraham Plaut, medical enrollment coordinator at Bread for the City, told the committee his clinic is seeing “an influx of new patients” and said specialty medications can cost “$4,000 to $7,000 per month” without Alliance. Carlos Plazas, CEO of La Clinica del Pueblo, said Alliance patients’ no-show rates rose to about 40% after Oct. 1 and warned that safety-net clinics’ financial sustainability is at risk.
Government witnesses described the operational steps taken to transition people into the Healthy DC Plan. Wayne Turnage, director of the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF), said restoring the FY25 program structure would require roughly $300 million a year (about $1.2 billion over a four-year plan). Mila Kaufmann, executive director of the Health Benefit Exchange Authority, said HBX had auto-enrolled roughly 13,000 people into Healthy DC and planned additional batch enrollments before January 1, 2026. Kaufmann confirmed Healthy DC covers Affordable Care Act essential health benefits but — unless Congress acts on premium tax credits — does not include adult dental and vision for the enrolled population.
Committee members pressed agencies on outreach, pharmacy and provider communications, and the risk that administrative notices will be missed. DHCF and HBX staff said their systems are linked so that when Medicaid eligibility ends the exchange can reach those residents, but officials also said a small number of applications (about 1,100) flagged for data issues will require manual follow-up and that gaps of days to weeks could occur for individuals who do not respond quickly. DHCF said it has mailed adverse-action notices and continues routine redeterminations.
The committee collected requests for follow-up numbers — updated enrollment projections, the precise cost to restore dental and vision benefits, pharmacy enrollment status and the list of cases that require manual remediation — and said it will continue oversight in February.
