At the WA State Universal Health Care Commission’s (UHCC) December 15th meeting during public comments our Organizing Committee brought forward one patient’s call for the urgent need for single-payer. Advocates also urged the Commission to include patients throughout the design process. If you could only watch one 2022 UHCC meeting this is the one!Look for the recording here.

The meeting was largely dedicated to a presentation from the Oregon Task Force members Dr. Bruce Goldberg (Chair), and Dr. John Santa, and Daniel Dietz, an OR legislature policy analyst. WA Commission members asked questions about the Oregon Task Force process and their final recommendations for a single-payer system. The OR guests stressed that the Task Force members were dedicated to their mission and focused on delivering a plan for the Oregon legislature to pursue. The Oregon Task Force members said that adopting a state single-payer system requires a Moonshot effort, and they have a legislative leader introducing a bill in 2023. It was a great moment for HCHR advocates who had worked behind the scenes to make this presentation a reality.
At the very end of the meeting, the HMA consultants quickly presented their 2023 Commission work plan. Still, they acknowledged that having heard Oregon’s presentation, they wanted to look at it again. They also presented a timeline for the November report but vowed to keep it simple and not have it dominate the every other month Commission meetings. They delayed voting on the charter for Finance Technical Advisory Committee (FTAC), but the Commissioners did vote to accept the HMA consultant’s recommendations for FTAC members without discussion. The next important meeting is January 12 – the first FTAC meeting. The deadline for submitting written comments for the Jan 12th meeting is December 29th.
Diagram: Workflow illustration from the Oregon Task Force’s Final Report.
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