On April 7, The Leader ran an article by Sydney Brown of the Washington State Journal, titled “Bill kick-starts effort for universal healthcare.” 

Despite this title, the bill referred to in the article will not kick-start a transition to universal healthcare in Washington but will actually delay its development. 

The bill SB 5399 sets up a commission to carry out a study for an unspecified amount of time on how the state might implement a universal healthcare system, with no target date for actually transitioning to one. It will leave the current system in place indefinitely, providing no relief for the hundreds of thousands of people in our state who cannot afford the medical care they need.

The irony is that we have a bill in the Legislature that actually would move us forward to universal healthcare in our state, but for reasons still unknown, that bill was not allowed out of committee. As several of us have written previously, SB 5204 could be implemented rapidly, expanding healthcare coverage to all our people, eliminating copays and deductibles, reducing costs to nearly everyone including employers, and providing retraining to displaced workers. 

The bill includes a start-up funding mechanism, it’s been vetted by the Departments of Revenue and Employment Securities, and it’s ready to roll.

With SB 5204 blocked for the rest of this legislative session, supporters will soon be on the streets collecting signatures for a citizens’ initiative to get universal healthcare passed in Washington state. 

If you’d like to learn more, or you’d like to help make this happen, visit wholewashington.org, and sign up as a volunteer.

Judy D’Amore
PORT TOWNSEND