Universal Health Care.
In 2019 the Legislature established a Universal Health Care Work Group (Work Group). The Work Group issued its final report on January 15, 2021. It defined universal health care to mean that all Washington residents can access essential, effective, appropriate, and affordable health care services when and where they need it. The Work Group developed three models for realizing universal health care and analyzed each based on expected costs, access, equity, governance, quality, administration, affordability, and feasibility.
In 2021 the Legislature established the Universal Health Care Commission to implement immediate and impactful changes in Washington's health care access and delivery system and to prepare Washington for the creation of a health care system to provide coverage and access through a universal financing system, including a unified financing system, once federal authority has been acquired.
The State-Based Universal Health Care Act of 2023.
House Resolution 6270, introduced in the 118th Congress, known as the State-Based Universal Health Care Act of 2023, establishes the option for states, or groups of states, to waive certain federal health insurance requirements and provide residents with health insurance benefits plans through state-administered programs. Such state programs must cover 95 percent of the residents in the state within five years, and the state program's benefits must be at least as comprehensive and affordable as the coverage under the equivalent federal programs. The state programs would be supported with funds from the replaced federal programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, certain federal tax credits, and premium assistance funds.
The Legislature requests the federal government to:
Copies of this memorial must be immediately transmitted to the President of the United States, the United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, the United States Department of Labor Secretary, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, each member of Congress from Washington State, and the federal agencies involved with granting the requested necessary waivers.
(In support) This memorial has been around for many years but is a critical step. There has been a fight to implement universal health care for many years and the need for waivers has been a consistent obstacle to the implementation of universal coverage. This memorial asks the federal government to do one of three actions. First, to create a universal program for everyone in the country, which is the preference. Second, to pass one of the federal bills that would allow states to create their universal plan. Third, would be to grant Washington the necessary waivers to create universal health care in Washington.
Universal health care would be life-changing for individuals with disabilities and chronic conditions. Our health care system has the same issues with wait times and denials of care as countries with universal health care. People with chronic conditions have to see many different providers, navigate complicated systems, spend many hours arguing with insurance companies, which is physically and mentally exhausting and is essentially a part-time job that you have no option to refuse. Hospitals and health care systems are collapsing, and Medicare and Medicaid are under threat. For many, this will be a death sentence.
Devastating health care tragedies can happen to anyone. Many think they are well-covered with their insurance, but realize that is not the case once something serious happens. It often ends up with people using all of their funds and going into debt or denied care because they do not want to put their family into debt. The predatory, ruthless health care system often consumes individuals' life savings leaving families with nothing.
Many have been fighting to receive much needed health care for years. Many argue that a universal health care system would be too expensive, but that is not correct. It would save billions. Why should someone have to choose between paying for medical care, rent, or groceries?
Chronic conditions create a lot of work and a lot of stress, but dealing with insurance is harder and more time-consuming. The insurance business model is to pay for as little as possible while charging as much as possible. Patients are treated with dignity in Canada and overall pay less for health care through taxes. Single-payer is the more humane and economical decision. Care is already rationed to an extreme degree in the United States.
A 2019 study discovered that universal health care would save $438 billion in 2019, and universal health care would save billions in Washington. Instead of cuts, the conversation should be about increasing progressive revenue to fund programs like universal health care.
This bill is the next step to get to universal health care, which is cheaper and better for everyone. We already pay too much for care to constantly be denied. Thirty-two countries have successfully implemented universal health care. Those countries have the happiest, healthiest people in the world. Washington is always at the forefront, and this would push us to be the leader and best state in the country. There should not be taxpayer-financed private health insurance. There have been a lot of discussions about what the state cannot afford or cannot do without federal approval; however, one small province in Canada with a population less than one million created a universal health care system so successful it eventually covered the whole country. Washington's GDP per capita is twice as high as Canada's and higher than nearly every nation in Western Europe.
Many jobs do not come with health care insurance and those individuals often cannot afford insurance or are dependent on their spouse for a basic human right. How many artists has society lost because they work corporate jobs for the insurance? Who does this system serve?
There are devastating consequences of not having access to health care and many tragic outcomes could have been prevented with more access to affordable health care. Washington should prioritize health without fear of crippling debt. Universal health care would support the overburdened health care system and increase access to care. No one should be profiting from suffering and illness. We all have a moral imperative to care for each other.
Washingtonians are struggling to afford and access health care with rising premiums and high out-of-pocket costs. Small businesses say health care affordability is their number one challenge. Nine in 10 individuals are worried about health care costs. Current federal actions threaten health care access and affordability. For example, the expected expiration of the enhanced advanced premium tax credits means that up to 80,000 people in the individual insurance market could drop their health coverage due to cost increases. Medicaid cuts could also result in people losing coverage while raising the state's costs.
(Opposed) While there are problems in the health care and insurance system, a universal health care system was a core element of the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union, medical services were nationalized and all patient choice was taken away. The government planned every individual's health care expenditure and imposed a rationing system. People sometimes died waiting for care. It was a bait-and-switch scam. Universal health care would deliver something completely different than what it promises. We can learn from history. The human cost of communism and socialism was 94 million lives.
In 2022 the cost for just one Canadian was an average of $8,564 for universal health care, for a total cost of $331 billion, which accounted for 70 percent of health care spending in Canada. The Canadian health care system has long wait times and limited access to after-hours care as well as delays in diagnostic testing and treatment. There are also staff shortages and variations of the quality of care among the provinces. The state cannot afford this. Universal health care is a financial and health problem.
The Legislature must look at other solutions. Continuing to pursue taxpayer-financed health care sets Washington up for failure. It offers no hope for cost containment and just shifts costs. Affordability, access, and quality do not go together. Canada has much longer wait times than the United States. Vermont abandoned their plan to do this because it would cost too much. Washington should focus on strengthening our health care safety nets.
(In support) Senator Bob Hasegawa, prime sponsor; Nico Janssen, Office of the Insurance Commissioner; Kathryn Lewandowsky, Whole Washington; Naomi Litwack; Andre Stackhouse, Whole Washington; Annie Fitzgerald; Kristin Lillegard; Rachael Snell, Whole Washington; Aimee Storm; and Anna Schroeder.
None.