The 2025 Legislative Session is more than half over, and important bills have been moving through the process.  Huge thanks to you, dear reader, and to our members and allies who have weighed in with their support of bills that increase affordability and access to health care here in Washington state.  Please stay tuned for future Action Alerts.  

If you have not already done so, please sign up for HCFAWA Take Action Network (TAN) that makes it easy for you to make your opinions known as bills pass through committee hearings and votes.  

Is there a Town Hall in your LD? Tell your Legislators you want publicly funded single-payer health care - the common sense solution to our health care and budget crises!  View the list of upcoming meetings here for Democrats and here for Republicans. Suggested question for your legislator: What will YOU do to change health care in Washington for the better? 

John Sobeck attended  LD 23 town hall on Bainbridge Island March 22 with Rep. Greg Nance, Rep. Tara Simmons, and Sen. Drew Hansen. It was held at Bainbridge Island High School, with standing room only in its big auditorium. The vast majority of the attendees were people associated with the school district. Questions were only allowed via question cards submitted before the event. The biggest chunk of questions were about education funding, second were questions about the budget process and potential revenue options. The legislators implied that taxing the richest Washingtonians would be very difficult.

Lastly, one healthcare question was fielded with about five minutes to go. It was submitted by John and essentially asked if each legislator was going to continue to financially support the Universal Health Care Commission, and to continue to support that work towards the single payer system in the state of Washington. John also identified as being associated with Health Care For All-Washington, and that was read out loud as a part of the question.

They all voiced support. Rep. Nance said he was supportive but said we will not have a single payer system in the next 3 years 9 months.

We won't know if we don't try! Speaking of trying, join us this Wednesday at the North Capitol Steps in Olympia to Rally to Demand Fair Revenue Solutions!

No Cuts - Raise Revenue: Don't Balance the Budget on the Backs of the Most Vulnerable
Wednesday, April 2 | 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM North Capitol Steps, Olympia, WA

HCFA-WA is joining our health care allies and  rallying to demand that Washington state leaders reject budget cuts to essential services and instead pursue revenue solutions. 

See you there!

We are also tracking the glacial pace of the Universal Health  Care Commission (UHCC) and its Finance Technical Advisory Committee (FTAC).  As the only organization to do so, we ask you to read our recaps and learn what you can do to speed up the process.  

Oregon's Path to Universal Health Care - 2nd Wednesday Speaker Series February Recap

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 for Oregon. The board's tasks include building operations, financing the plan, engaging healthcare employers, insurance companies, and the healthcare workforce for feedback, and incorporating this feedback into an updated plan to be recommended to the legislature.

The timeline for the work spans from 2024 to 2026, with draft plans expected by summer 2025 and a final report due in September 2026.

Download Michelle's slideshow as a PDF or Powerpoint.

These are the main features of the plan:

1. Development of a Universal Healthcare Plan:

• Building operations and financing plans.
• Strategic targeted engagement to gather feedback.
• Incorporating feedback into an updated plan for legislative recommendation. ​

2. Values and Principles:

• Public transparency. ​
• Non-discrimination.
• Healthcare as a fundamental right. ​
• Health equity. ​
• Provider choice.

3. Board and Committee Structure:

• Board roster and staff support. ​
• Recruitment for committees and executive director position.
• Committee focus areas: finance and revenue, plan design and expenditure, operations, and transition planning.

4. Progress and Timeline:

• Reviewing task force recommendations. ​
• Developing a work plan. ​
• Submitting status reports to the legislature.
• Proposal development and community engagement.
• Final report submission by September 2026. ​

5. Challenges and Strategies:

• Creating a unified financing strategy.
• Engaging stakeholders, including hospitals and insurers.
• Conducting public engagement with limited resources. ​
• Working with contractors for economic analysis and community engagement. ​

6. Public Engagement and Communication:

• Importance of public ownership and co-creation of the healthcare plan.
• Strategic communications to present the work effectively. ​
• Leveraging existing feedback and networks for targeted engagement.

March FTAC Meeting: Who's on first?

By Marcia Stedman 

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, this FTAC meeting was a disappointment.

The Milliman Group compared the costs and benefits of thee current and existing health plans administered by Washington state: Medicaid, the Public Employees Benefit Board Uniform Medical Plan (PEBB UMP), and the Cascade Select silver plan sold on the Health Benefit Exchange. Milliman was not instructed to incorporate the expenses associated with administration and management of these programs, so these costs were not examined. This is unfortunate, given that numerous other analyses have shown that administrative costs are out of control, accounting for 15-30% of health care spending (source). 

This presentation was to be followed by the adoption of a Cost Containment Memo to the Commission, which did not happen.  

Main takeaway:  A lack of direction from the Commission on the Governance structure of the new plan continues to hamper FTAC’s work, as pointed out once again in the public comments and echoed by several Committee members during the course of the meeting.  A proper study of benefits and costs requires an overarching framework.

Takeaway #2: The Milliman study documented what health care reform advocates have long known: as the share of health care costs paid by patients rises, patients seek less care, thus reducing insurer costs. Conversely, as patients’ cost-sharing decreases or disappears altogether, they can afford care, which causes payer costs to rise.  This raises two important questions:

• What is the goal of the Commission: to make the costs of the current system more sustainable, or to improve patient health and well-being? 
• Is it possible to design a health plan that achieves both goals simultaneously?

Until the Commission answers these questions, future actuarial studies will be premature and miss the mark just as this one has.

Takeaway #3: It is not possible to recommend cost containment strategies in a future universal system until the universal plan design is known. Discussion of cost containment options in the current system belongs in the Health Care Authority’s Health Care Cost Transparency Board.

The FTAC convener mentioned that based on the Public Comments, they may revisit Governance at the April 17th Commission meeting. While that would be a welcome development, it would be a first visit, not a re-visit.  

Review the meeting materials, including the Milliman Group report, here. Watch the meeting here.

Save the date and join us at the next meeting of the UHCC on Thursday, April 17th,  from 2–5 p.m.

We encourage you to:

• Sign up to provide public comment by 5 p.m. the day before the meeting occurs.
• Push for a single payer plan in your public comments.
• Read our take on past UHCC and FTAC meetings
• Subscribe to Health Care Authority (HCA) for updates.