Health care ballot measure falls short

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Earlier this spring, the Jefferson County Democrats endorsed a universal health care ballot measure for Washington state, but as the deadline neared for the campaign to collect the requisite number of signature, it appeared uncertain whether the measure would actually make it onto the ballot.

Marty Gilmore, chairman of the Jefferson County Democrats, had sent out a news release March 17, announcing his organization’s official endorsement of I-1600, which was written to ensure that every single Washington State resident would have health care.

At the time, Gilmore told the press the initiative had been written by stakeholders from across the state, with the authors of the ballot measure commissioning a funding study to determine its financing mechanisms and cost.

“Dr. Gerald Friedman’s study shows that universal healthcare will save Washington residents more than $9 billion annually, while at the same time providing healthcare coverage, including vision and dental,” Gilmore wrote March 17.

Friedman was the economist responsible for the 2018 Washington State Universal Health Care Funding Study, and he wrote, “A single-payer system would benefit all, with the greatest benefits for the poor. We could finance a universal insurance system in Washington, covering everyone without copayments or deductibles in a variety of ways, while leaving more money for most residents.”

In order to be on the November ballot, however, this campaign was required to collect 300,000 signatures by July 6, which was the last day to submit those signatures to the Secretary of State.

Gilmore told The Leader that it appeared the signature-gathering campaign would fall short of this required number, “even though there was a huge and successful signature gathering effort in Jefferson County.”

Gilmore noted the I-1600 campaign is being run by the statewide organization Whole Washington, so the next move would be up to them.

“I’m sure they will spend some time pondering what they could do differently,” Gilmore said. “One thing that was really apparent across the state was that almost everyone who was asked to sign for I-1600 did sign. There is broad support for universal, affordable health care, including in Central and Eastern Washington. Starting earlier and getting more signature-gathering volunteers will be part of their next campaign.”

Whole Washington, the organization that commissioned the study and organized the writing of the initiative, describes itself as a grassroots coalition of health care professionals, activists and organizers with the common beliefs that health care is a human right, and that Washington can and should be doing more to provide the best level of health care to all its residents.

George Davenport, campaign director for Whole Washington, confirmed their campaign didn’t get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot this go-round, but she pointed out that a number of initiatives take more than once to qualify and pass.

“We did get almost 103,000 signatures, with a total raised under $100,000, which means our campaign spent less than a dollar per signature. I don’t know of any other campaign that’s achieved a similar performance.”

Davenport told The Leader that Whole Washington is still working on what its next steps will be.

“It is possible that we will run another initiative, but we want to make sure that we can afford paid signature gatherers this time,” Davenport said.

For further details, visit www.yeson1600.org.