Keep DC Healthy: Protect Health Coverage for Low-Income Residents
The Keep DC Healthy Coalition advocates for the protection and expansion of the DC Health Care Alliance and Healthy DC/Medicaid.
Policy Priority
Keep DC Healthy
The Keep DC Healthy Coalition is a group of advocates and organizers formed in rapid response to the DC government’s 2025 rollback of a vital healthcare program for low-income and marginalized residents.
The coalition advocates for the protection and expansion of two programs critical for the District: the DC Health Care Alliance and Healthy DC.
Keep DC Healthy brings together healthcare providers, doctors, nurses, fiscal policy experts, federally qualified health centers, and direct legal services organizations. We work every day with DC residents who rely on the HealthCare Alliance, Medicaid, and Healthy DC as their only access to affordable healthcare.
We see firsthand what happens when care is delayed or denied: preventable illnesses worsen, emergencies increase, and lives are put at risk. We refuse to accept policies that knowingly cause harm when the solution is clear — expand healthcare access, don’t eliminate it.
-
Advocacy Priorities >
Restore the DC Health Care Alliance program to protect coverage for immigrant residents
The DC Health Care Alliance program provides life-saving health coverage for low-income DC residents who aren't eligible for Medicaid due to their immigration status. In the budget for fiscal year 2026, the District cut back the Alliance program, reducing eligibility, limiting covered services, and ultimately phasing the program out by October 2027.
Our coalition is committed to restoring and protecting access to the Health Care Alliance and ensuring that marginalized DC residents have the comprehensive healthcare coverage they need to thrive.
-
Advocacy Priorities
Protect Medicaid in DC
At the start of 2026, DC significantly lowered the income limit to be eligible for Medicaid. While most of the affected patients were automatically moved over to the newly created Healthy DC plan, more than 1,000 residents were left without affordable coverage.
The Keep DC Healthy Coalition calls for the District to:
— Protect Medicaid from future cuts in the District's budget for fiscal year 2027
— Restore coverage for those who lost Medicaid eligibility by applying for a State Innovation Waiver, and fund the gap in coverage until then.
-
Advocacy Priorities
Ensure coverage for critical vision and dental care
The District's new Healthy DC basic health plan excludes vision and dental coverage. For those that were transitioned from Medicaid to Healthy DC, this is a significant loss in covered services.
Preventative vision and dental care are critical to stop treatable health issues from worsening into medical emergencies.
/
What happened to healthcare coverage in DC?
The District’s FY2026 budget, which went into effect on October 1, 2025, reduced eligibility for the locally funded Alliance HealthCare program, which serves low-income residents who are ineligible for Medicaid. The budget also limited covered services (including eliminating coverage for dental and vision care) and set Alliance on a path to full elimination by October 2027. Alliance enrollees are not eligible for other affordable healthcare options offered by the District, such as Medicaid or Healthy DC. If Alliance is fully eliminated, thousands of DC residents who previously had coverage will lose access to even basic, affordable healthcare.
Beyond efforts to dismantle Alliance, the District shifted some residents who were previously eligible for Medicaid into a new program, Healthy DC, which excludes dental and vision coverage. As a result of this shift, more than 1,000 DC residents were left without any affordable healthcare coverage because they do not qualify for either Healthy DC or Medicaid. Like Alliance enrollees, these residents are being abandoned by longstanding programs they relied on for healthcare access.
Despite this abrupt rollback of critical healthcare coverage, the Coalition successfully advocated for the funding of the restoration of full Alliance services for anyone who remained eligible for the remainder of FY2026 through a contingency list and the creation of an Alliance Advisory Council to promote accountability and transparency within the District’s Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF).
Coalition Accomplishments
- Selected as a recipient of the Health Equity Fund
- Increased age limit for Alliance from 21 to 26 for 2026
- Preserved annual recertification for Alliance enrollees without an in-person appointment
