Universal Health Care (UHC) Legislation

SB 5233  Washington Health Trust      

Sponsors: Hasegawa, Bateman, Chapman, Dhingra, Liias, Lovelett, Nobles, Saldaña, Shewmake, Stanford, Trudeau
Companion Bill: HB 1445

What this bill does:  

• Covers every Washington resident with public nonprofit health insurance 
• Provides vision, dental, hearing, mental health & reproductive care
• Makes healthcare free at the point of service 

SJM 8004 Concerning Universal Health Care.

Sponsors: Hasegawa, Bateman, Lovelett, Nobles, Stanford, Trudeau, Valdez, Wellman

What this bill does:  

• Requests that the federal government create a universal health care program 
• Allows Washington State to implement a universal health system by reducing barriers or granting appropriate waivers

UHC Foundational Bills 

SB 5086 Consolidating the public employees' benefits board and the school employees' benefits board.

Sponsors: Robinson, Nobles, Wellman
Companion Bill: HB 1330

What this bill does:  

Consolidates the Public Employees Benefits Board Program and the School Employees Benefits Board programs into the newly created Washington Employees and Retirees Benefits Board.

SB 5493 Hospital price transparency

Sponsors: Riccelli, Robinson, Conway, Nobles, Ramos, Stanford, Valdez, Wilson, C.

What this bill does:  

• Requires hospitals to comply with federal hospital price transparency rules.
• Provides enforcement authority to the Department of Health.
• Requires the Department of Health to develop an interactive tool to allow the public to search and compare hospital prices.

SB 5083 Ensuring access to primary care, behavioral health, and affordable hospital services.(Reference-based pricing )

Sponsors: Macri, Berry, Reed, Fitzgibbon, Alvarado, Callan, Obras, Farivar, Doglio, Simmons, Wylie, Nance, Berg, Ormsby, Lekanoff, Reeves, Hill
Companion Bill: HB 1123

What this bill does:  

• Requires hospitals that participate in the Health Care Authority’s Medical Care Services programs to contract with the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) and School Employees Benefits Board (SEBB) carriers upon receipt of a good faith offer.

• Sets reimbursement levels for hospitals within the PEBB and SEBB network beginning on January 1, 2027.

• Provides different reimbursement limits for children's hospitals, and minimum reimbursement limits for primary care and behavioral health services.

• Excludes Rural Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Sole Community Hospitals, and certain hospitals located on islands.

HB 1881  Concerning material changes to the operations and governance structure of participants in the healthcare marketplace

Sponsors: Taylor, Macri, Berry, Wylie, Ryu, Parshley, Simmons, Farivar, Scott, Stonier, Fitzgibbon, Ormsby, Hill, Pollet
Companion: SB 5704

What this bill does: 

Improves the Attorney General Office's oversight of health system consolidations to help prevent diminished access to patient care and high healthcare costs that often accompany health system mergers and acquisitions.

Immediate Needs

SB 5480 Protecting consumers by removing barriers created by medical debt.

Sponsors: Riccelli, Bateman, Alvarado, Chapman, Hasegawa, Lovelett, Nobles, Orwall, Ramos, Robinson, Slatter, Stanford, Trudeau, Valdez, Wilson, C.
Companion Bill: HB 1632

What this bill does:  

• Declares that medical debt will not negatively impact credit reports or credit scores.
• Prohibits reporting medical debt to credit reporting agencies or credit bureau, on pain of committing a violation of the Consumer Protection Act.