Extra Extra - Washington State Residents - Help Needed

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Help Needed In Washington State

Advocates, if you live in Washington State, this action is for you. The legislature is starting up again and there is a bill that could help move universal healthcare closer to the finish line in Washington. It is SJM 8006. It requests that the federal government either implement universal healthcare or let the states do so by allowing ERISA waivers. ERISA is the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and it allows employee benefits to be unaffected by many state laws if the employer is multistage.

I received an email from the League of Women Voters - Washington, Healthcare Issues Chair asking us to send emails or call or the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate in Washington and let them know how important it is to bring this bill up early in the session.

ACTION

Call or send a version of thermal below to House Speaker, the Senate Majority Leader and their aides to ask that they take action on SJM 8006 asap.

Contact Info

Speaker of the House Laurie Jenkins  - https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/memberEmail/27/1

360-786-7930

Mayority Leader Senator Andy Billig - https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/memberEmail/3/0

Email Text

Here is a template text/script. Make sure to include the 3 footnotes in your email.

Going through the state’s website to email - endter your address and verify - it may say this is not your representative - ignore that and continue.

Enter 8006 for the bill number and search for it

Enter Support for the bill

Paste in the subject and the body and enter

SUBJECT - SJM 8006 - 2023-24 Universal Healthcare

I strongly urge you to take early action on SJM 8006 this session - requesting that the federal government create a universal health care program. As you know, access to healthcare which is affordable is one of the most important concerns of Washingtonians. Certainly, it is vitally important to the approximately 6.1% of Washington residents who are uninsured*. According to 2022 census data, nearly 1 in 6 Washington residents directly purchase their own insurance. In Seattle, researchers found wide-spread medical debt among those in homeless encampments*** . Recently, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner announced a 9% average increase in health insurance rates for the individual market. The increased costs can only lead to worsening health outcomes.

The current fragmentation of the healthcare system with differences in provider networks, covered services, requirements for pre-authorizations, and drug coverage leads to treatment delays and increased costs. By eliminating inefficiencies, a universal, single-payer system would provide better healthcare to all at a lower cost.

Employers also would benefit if they no longer felt the need to provide health insurance for their employees to retain and attract employees; importantly, employees would also have more freedom to choose employers.

Healthcare is not a partisan issue. Voters identifying as Democrats, Republicans, or neither agree that U.S. healthcare needs to change (63%, 82%, and 70%, respectively). Forty-six percent see healthcare as one of the top issues that the government should address, even more important than the economy (44%)**.

SJM 8006 requests that the federal government either establish a national universal single-payer health care system or allow states to implement this within their state by Congress’s passage of House Resolution 3775 or through appropriate waivers.

For these reasons cited above I urge you to take early action on SJM 8006. Thank you.

References

* U.S. Census Report released on 09/14/2023 reported that the Washington uninsured rate in 2022 was 6.1%.

** As reported by Altarum Healthcare Value Hub in a 2022 survey of over 1,300 Washington adults.

*** A Father Dreamed of a Home for His Family. Medical Debt Nearly Pushed Them Onto the Streets. - KFF Health News