October 29, 2025

Solid suggestions from the advocate community at the Oct. 9th UHCC meeting illustrate the need for an “all hands on deck” approach to protect access to health care for Washington residents. 

September 30, 2025

By HCFA-WA Board Member John Sobeck In addition to a recap of the 1333 waiver discussion at the UHCC, the primary focus of the FTAC meeting was provider reimbursement and participation in a universal system. Expert presentations by Bob Murray and Christine Eidner outlined...

September 30, 2025

By HCFA-WA Board Member Marcia Stedman  At their Sept. 11th meeting, Commissioners heard a presentation on Section 1333 Insurance Compacts, at the request of Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer. Section 1333 is part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and, like the ACA’s Section 1332 waivers,...

August 28, 2025

UHCC Advocates Roundtable: a Meeting of the Minds by HCFA-WA Board Member Marcia Stedman The August 5th Advocates Roundtable marked the first time in the Commission’s nearly 4-year existence that the Universal Health Care Commission engaged directly with universal health care advocates for an...

August 01, 2025

Momentum is Building in Washington!  by HCFA-WA Board Member Marcia Stedman The July 17th Finance Technical Advisory Committee (FTAC) meeting marked the beginning of Washington’s 2025 fiscal year, the end of Health Management Associates’ consultant contract, and stronger participation by all Committee members.  Health...

July 09, 2025

Level Setting at the June UHCC Meeting by Marcia Stedman, HCFA-WA Board Member   The June 11, 2025, UHCC meeting was marked by robust public engagement, technical updates, and next steps for the Commission’s work. A major segment of this meeting consisted of a level-setting...

July 09, 2025

This 15th meeting of the Commission’s Finance Technical Advisory Committee (FTAC) opened with a rich discussion around whether the topic of Governance should be tackled sooner rather than later in the Commission’s Work Plan. Some FTAC members recommended against it, stating that doing so would...

May 07, 2025

By Marcia Stedman, HCFA-WA Board member   This month’s Universal Health Care Commission (UHCC) meeting opened with approving prior meeting minutes and hearing public comments, before launching into a discussion of governance and hearing a report on the baseline modelling of 3 existing insurance...

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...