March 31, 2025

By Marcia Stedman, HCFA-WA Board member   Once again, the lack of clarity about governance was front and center at the recent March FTAC meeting. Coming the day after Oregon's presentation at our 2WSS session on how they are developing their UHC plan and recapped above,...

March 19, 2025

by Ron Lovell Michelle Glass, Policy and advocacy coordinator at the Regional Health Equity Coalition of Southern Oregon outlined the progress and plans of Oregon Universal Health Plan Governance Board (OUHPGB). OUHPGB was formed under Senate Bill 1089 to design a universal healthcare plan...

February 28, 2025

By Marcia Stedman, HCFA-WA Board member  Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer pledges strong support for the Universal Health Care Commission and its work: “Healthcare is a human right and getting to Universal coverage is paramount. We at the OIC and myself personally are ready to...

February 07, 2025

As this week the FTAC was all about budget I thought it may be useful to have a short intro to global budgets.  What is a global budget? Hospitals with global budgets get paid a set amount to treat a group of patients over...

December 20, 2024

In the bleak midwinter, glimmers of light at the December UHCC Meeting   By Marcia Stedman  In this season of darkness, FTAC member Bob Murray brought welcome light to the Commission’s December meeting.   Bob was the executive director of Maryland’s hospital rate-setting system and gave...

November 29, 2024

The following is a summary of Peter Hallum’s presentation highlighting key points of the progress and methodology of the Milliman analysis.  Please note a single payer model is not included in the analysis. 

November 01, 2024

By Marcia Stedman Haunted by the specter of looming budget shortfalls, the Universal Health Care Commission (UHCC) continues to delay the creation of the universal system that would achieve significant savings for the state and at the same time deliver comprehensive health care to...

September 26, 2024

by Consuelo Echeverria The Finance Technical Advisory Committee is recommending an actuarial analysis; however, the Milliman actuaries seem unsure of which data to use and need help defining what they are measuring, which comes as no surprise as there is no overarching vision or plan...

September 26, 2024

by Marcia Stedman Advocates and Commissioners alike asked this question at the August 2024 meeting. They are eager to move on to designing a healthcare system that would lower costs and increase access for all residents statewide, if only it were in place. Instead,...

July 31, 2024

Finance Technical Advisory Committee recap: Why cost sharing is not the way to lower the cost of health care By Consuelo Echeverria Once again, the Finance Technical Advisory Committee is off track. Rather than choose a benefit design from the many models that already exist...