More than 70 percent of Americans support single-payer healthcare so one might assume our Washington Legislature would be on board as well. 

In January SB 5204 was introduced in the state Senate. SB 5204 is the comprehensive bill for the Whole Washington Health Trust, which will create the first state-wide, publicly financed, not for profit, healthcare system in the U.S.

But instead of moving the bill forward, Senator Cleveland, Chair of the Senate Health and Longterm Care Committee, blocked SB 5204 from getting a hearing while advancing other bills that merely tweak our current system and delay substantial reform. Our own Sen. Van De Wege, usually quick to respond to constituent emails, has been unusually silent about SB 5204, as have Reps. Tharinger and Chapman. But the bill is not dead. It will remain in the Senate throughout the biennium, and with enough support it could come to a floor vote.

It’s important to consider what could be causing our legislators to avoid supporting this bill. Among the bigger donors to Washington legislators are healthcare corporations. In recent years they’ve donated $2.5 million to current members of the Legislature’s House and Senate Health Committees, with committee chairs receiving the largest contributions. Could it be that the healthcare industry invests this money to keep the current for-profit healthcare system in place?

If so, how can we get our legislators to listen to their constituents, not their corporate donors? How many messages and phone calls will it take? How many signatures on how many petitions? Whatever it takes we need to insist they listen to us, because healthcare is a human right.

Let’s make Washington the first state to provide universal healthcare to its people and show the rest of the country it can be done.

Judy D’Amore

PORT TOWNSEND