Save the Date! Medicare for All Speak out with Rep. Jayapal, Sat. April 6th

We encourage everyone to attend and show support for Representative Jayapal’s Medicare for All Act!

Action Alert: Urge Representative Cody to Support the Pathway Bill, SB 5822

Dear Health Advocates:  Here’s an action alert our member organization Health Care for All WA sent today. Please send a message to Rep. Cody and the members of the House Health Care & Wellness Committee she chairs urging support for SB 5822. Thank you, HCFA-WA!

HCHR

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Good news! The Senate version of the Pathway to Universal Health Care bill, SB 5822, is progressing through the Senate and if all goes well, it will go to the House. The first stop would be the Health Care & Wellness Committee, and we need your help getting a jump on building support for the bill in the House.

The most important thing we can do right now for universal health care is to encourage Representative Eileen Cody to support the Senate version of the Pathway to Universal Health Care bill.

Rep. Cody did not hold a hearing on the House version of the bill, so she will need some Kind, but Firm pressure from us.

Please email Rep. Cody, Chair of the House Healthcare & Wellness Committee, with the following:

•   Urge Rep. Eileen Cody to support SB 5822, The Pathway to Universal Healthcare bill when it comes over to the House.

•   Share why universal health care is important to you. Keep it persuasive and polite. Thank her for being a health care advocate. Provide your name, address, and legislative district.

•   Copy the following Healthcare & Wellness Committee members and paste into the cc: line:
nicole.macri@leg.wa.gov, lauren.davis@leg.wa.gov, laurie.jinkins@leg.wa.gov,
marcus.riccelli@leg.wa.gov, june.robinson@leg.wa.gov, monica.stonier@leg.wa.gov, my-lihn.thai@leg.wa.gov, steve.tharinger@leg.wa.gov, joe.schmick@leg.wa.gov, michelle.caldier@leg.wa.gov, kelly.chambers@leg.wa.gov, richard.debolt@leg.wa.gov,  paul.harris@leg.wa.gov, jacquelin.maycumber@leg.wa.gov

For more tips and ideas for writing your legislators, go here.

Thank you for all you do for Universal Health Care!

ACTION ALERTS: Wed. Feb 27 is a Big Day — Hearing on the Pathway bill & the Jayapal will introduce Medicare for All bill

Dear Health Advocates:

Things are moving! On Wednesday, Feb 27 at 8:30 am Pacific Time, Congresswoman Jayapal is holding a press event to introduce the long-awaited Improved and Expanded Medicare for All bill she has updated with the help of colleagues and many allies. Watch it live here.

So far, Congressman Adam Smith is the only other member of the WA Congressional Delegation to join the 100 cosponsors of the new bill. Let’s keep talking with our other federal Representatives about why they should join this historic effort to achieve universal and affordable coverage for all. We will also want to keep encouraging our US Senators to co-sponsor a Senate companion bill when that is introduced.

In Olympia, The Pathway to Universal Health Care Bill, SSB 5822, will be heard in Senate Ways & Means this Wednesday the 27th at 1:30 PM. This is a key step to advance this important proposal for WA stakeholders to design ways in which our state could achieve truly universal and affordable health care, with the needed support from the federal government we hope will be forthcoming after the 2020 elections.

Your Action Needed Now: Please contact your state Senator and let them know why you personally support Universal Health Care and urge passage of SSB 5822.

Find your Senator and send an email here – or- Comment on the bill here.

If you or your organizational representative will be in Olympia on February 27, please sign-in PRO in support of SSB 5822 before the Ways & Means hearing begins at 1:30 in Hearing Room 4 of the J.A. Cherberg Building.

The Pathway Bill Passed Out of Committee! Next Up: Ways & Means

Correction: We made an error in stating that the Pathway bill is the first universal health care bill ever to make it out of committee. The Washington Health Services Act of 1993 not only got out of committee, it was passed into law as the first state-based plan to cover all residents! Sadly, it was repealed 2 years later after a national Republican wave that shifted power in Congress, WA and other states.

We have a victory to celebrate! SB 5822, The Pathway to Universal Health Care Bill, had a hearing in the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee last Monday, Feb, 18th and passed out of committee.  Watch the hearing here.

Thank you to everyone who submitted testimony, attended the hearing, and wrote their legislators. Now the bill is in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.  But there is still more to do.

Your Action Needed: Please contact your Senator and let them know why you personally support Universal Health Care and urge passage of SSB 5822 out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Find your Senator and send an email here – or- Comment on the bill here.

We will be working to keep up the momentum in the Ways and Means Committee and work for improvements including 1) the inclusion of patient and community health advocates in the Work Group, and 2) recommendation for a system that includes publicly funded and publicly administered care which is affordable to all Washington residents.

We can make some progress at the state and local levels now, and in 2021 we may have elected a House, Senate and President supportive of achieving universal health care. This could include helping states achieve the goal if they are ready before the federal government is able to adopt a national health plan. This is the purpose of the State-Based Universal Health Care Act which Congresswoman Jayapal introduced last year and which will be reintroduced soon. We need to be ready.

Updated Feb. 24, 2019

 

Watch the Hearing on the Pathways Bill

Watch the hearing including testimony in support of the bill and amendments, from Health Care Is a Human Right – WA and several of our member organizations and allies:

Viewing guide:

1:38:42 Staff Briefing on SB 5822
1:40:20 Sen. Randall and Rep. Macri (prime sponsors) followed by testimony in favor: Chris Covert-Bowlds, MD, Health Care for All Washington; Gary Renville, Project Access Northwest; Reena Koshy, MD, Washington Coalition to Protect our Patients; David Loud, Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action and HCHR WA; Marcia Stedman, Health Care for All Washington; Cindi Laws, Health Care for All Washington; Jonathan Seib, Molina Healthcare of Washington; Nathan Rodke, Washington CAN; Bailey Boyd, citizen; Sadiqa Sakin, President, NAACP Seattle/King County; Nikki Gomez, citizen.

Breaking News: Hearing Rescheduled for this Monday, Feb. 18th

This could be THE  hearing on Universal Health Care this session. More details soon!

Updated! – Barnstorm for Medicare for All!

The Snowmageddon of 2019 interrupted the Barnstorming for Medicare for All, but new dates have been set. See below for updated information.

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National Nurses United, Whole Washington, Red Berets for Medicare for All, Our Revolution Washington Berniecrats Coalition, Olympic Peninsula Progressives, the Washington State Green Party, Adams County WA Democrats, North Seattle Progressives, United for National Healthcare, Our Revolution Clark County, 22nd LD Democrats, Our Revolution-Pierce County, and Our Revolution/ Democracy Rising have teamed up to bring you an astounding 10 barnstorm events all over Washington State this upcoming week/weekend!

 

What is a Barnstorm? The goal is simple: to put overwhelming grassroots pressure on decision makers from the bottom up until we win Medicare for All. We’ll talk about exactly what that means and how to do it at these events. So don’t delay!! RSVP for a barnstorm near you —>

FEB 10 – Arlington, WA – Rescheduled for February 17
Barnstorm for HR 676 Medicare For All
Sun 2 PM · by Whole Washington, Stillaguamish Valley Pioneers Museum
RSVP

FEB 10 – Tacoma, WA – Rescheduled for February 24
Medicare for ALL Barnstorming Pierce
Sun 2 PM · by Red Berets for Medicare for All & Our Revolution-Pierce County, IBEW Local 76
RSVP

FEB 10 – Shoreline, WA – Rescheduled for March 3rd
Medicare for ALL Barnstorming with North Seattle Progressives
Sun 3 PM · by North Seattle Progressives, Shoreline/Lake Forest Park Senior Center, 18560 1st Ave NE
RSVP

FEB 11 – Bellingham, WA
Bellingham Medicare for All Barnstorm
Mon 6:30 PM · by United for National Healthcare, Lifeline-St Joseph Hospital 3333 Squalicum Parkway Room A
RSVP

FEB 12 – Seattle, WA
Seattle NNU Improved Medicare for All Barnstorm
Tue 6 PM · by Whole Washington, IntraSpace
RSVP

February 13, 2019 – Olympia
Olympia  Barnstorm – National Medicare for All Week of Action
Wednesday 6:30 PM  · by the 22nd LD Democrats Davis Williams Building 906 Columbia St SW, Ste 200
RSVP

FEB 16 – Aberdeen, WA
National Improved Medicare For All- Grays Harbor
Sat 12 PM · by Our Revolution/ Democracy Rising, Shoppes at Riverside in Aberdeen
RSVP