Check out our newly updated Legislation 2021 page. You can see the bills we’re tracking with summaries. We’ll be adding more in depth bill analyses as the bills progress. Our #1 bill, SB 5399, establishing a Universal Health Care Commission, would allow the seeds of state-based publicly funded universal health care to truly take root.

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February is Black History Month, and we’re pleased to honor Mae Jemison, the first African-American astronaut, and an MD who combined her skill sets to form the Jemison Group, which develops telecommunications systems to improve healthcare delivery in developing countries.

“The future never just happened. It was created.”
-- Mae Jemison

• An overview of the legislation we’re tracking and supporting in this session so far.
• A Q & A about our number 1 legislative priority, SSB 5399, Creating a Universal Health Care Commission.
• The Final report of the Universal Health Care Work Group was discussed in our latest Zoom meeting with members of the Work Group. There’s video!
• Call to Action: get up to the minute action alerts through our social media channels
• News and Commentary
• Upcoming Events

HCFA-WA positions on Key Health Care Bills in the 2021 Legislative Session

The Mission of Health Care for All-WA is to achieve high quality, sustainable, affordable, publicly financed, and publicly and privately delivered health care for all Washington residents.

2021 Goal: pass legislation built on the UHC Work group recommendation and other legislation that moves our state toward publicly funded universal health care.

We endorse bills that align with our goal and have strong legislative support; we support bills that improve healthcare affordability and access until a publicly funded universal system can be established.

SSB 5399 – Concerning the creation of a universal health care commission.
Bill text
Senate Bill Report

Sponsors: Senators Randall, Cleveland, Das, Dhingra, Frockt, Hunt, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, Nguyen, Nobles, Robinson, Saldaña, Stanford, Van De Wege, Wellman and Wilson, C..

What this bill does:  Declares the Legislature’s intent for all state residents to have publicly financed and privately and publicly delivered health care coverage that is comprehensive, equitable, and affordable,   that the plan be presented to the Legislature by Nov. 1, 2024, and implemented by 2026.  

Why it’s important:  Builds on the actuarial work done for the UHC Work Group and begins the implementation of the plan favored by a majority of the Work Group: a unified plan for universal health coverage run through a state agency.

HCFA-WA’s position:  ENDORSE

Progress: Public hearing - Senate Ways & Means Committee - Feb. 19th - 9:00 a.m.

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Q & A on SSB 5399, the Universal Health Care Commission 
- Elaine Cox with contributions from Sarah Weinberg, MD  

We’ve seen and heard a lot of questions and discussion about why HCFA-WA is supporting SSB 5399,  Concerning the creation of a universal health care commission.  We’d like to address some of these concerns using a Q & A format.  (Click/tap here for a synopsis of the bill)  

Q: Where did this UHC Commission (UHCC) idea come from? 
A: The final report of the Universal Health Care Work Group was sent to the legislature on January 15, 2021.  It provides a transition plan to reach a state-based UHC system.  SB 5399 sponsors took up the recommendation from the report for a legislatively established commission to spearhead the work of transitioning. The report advises: ”The Universal Health Care Commission (UHCC) would be an action-oriented, focused group, supported by targeted Work Groups used to define specific topics. Stakeholder input is anticipated at multiple points during the process.”    

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