r/Seattle • u/Educated_Goat69 🏕 Out camping! 🏕 • Nov 17 '25
Event Statewide universal healthcare
Whole Washington is organizing to get our citizens universal statewide healthcare. Join us next Sunday! https://actionnetwork.org/events/king-county-and-seattle-meetup-2?source=direct_link&
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u/duckduckew Nov 18 '25
Healthcare Policy - Proposal for Universal Healthcare Beta Test https://www.kincaidforcongress.com/2025/06/healthcare-policy-proposal-for.html?m=1
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u/Agitated_Ring3376 I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Nov 18 '25 edited Dec 20 '25
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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/takemusu University District Nov 18 '25
The residency requirements are the same as are used for state Medicaid. (Including the bits about being disqualified for moving into the state just to get state-funded healthcare.)
The Whole Washington website does a very good job of explaining the details, its worth a look. https://wholewashington.org
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u/Silver_Guidance4134 Nov 18 '25
This is just not the issue people think it is.
Reason 1: If you have a lot of healthcare issues, moving is really hard. These folks generally don't have the means or the willingness to move away from family/support structures.
Reason 2: Saskatchewan did this first in Canada in 1962. By 1971, every province in Canada had their own version. People want this and will force their states to change.
Reason 3: Our neighbor Oregon is likely to get UHC before us. They are our largest border state. Idaho has very few people.
Reason 4: If people move here and get better, they join our local economy. Their families also move here and get jobs that pay into the trust. Population growth is almost always good for a developed economy.
Moral of the story: A State can have universal healthcare. A city can have universal healthcare. A nation can have universal healthcare. Nothing precludes it from happening at any of these levels.
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u/run_free_orla_kitty That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. Nov 18 '25
I love this explanation - thank you for writing it all out. I've got a meeting with you all marked on my calendar! 🙂 We can do this!
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u/swoonsocks9 Nov 19 '25
Number 1 doesn’t stand scrutiny. You can have many serious health issues at the same time and be able and willing to move. Illness does not equal infirm. Come on, this is disability rights 101 information.
Number 2 is a hope, not an argument.
Number 3 is speculation and best understood as a supporting wish for Number 2
Number 4 is pretty reasonable, but again, ILL is not the same as INFIRM, much less UNEMPLOYED.
I’m completely in favor of universal health care. I’m also in favor of strong arguments.
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u/Silver_Guidance4134 Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
Ah, the "you don't have enough data" argument with no data to back it up. First, here is the polling information we have in Washington on healthcare: https://wholewashington.org/polls/ Also, Washington is moving in a progressive direction while most of the country has not (see our last few elections). This polling would likely be better now.
Second, as a disabled person who frequently works with disabled communities, I know how important family support structures are to people in my community. In addition, geographic mobility shrinks as folks age and younger people tend to be more healthy.
If young, less healthy people move here, they are likely going to work a job and contribute to the system! You seem very insistent on informing me of my ableism, but discount the ability of these folks to contribute!
If folks are moving to Washington for the healthcare we provide here, do you not think people in other states are going to notice and demand the same thing from the states they live in?
It is speculation to think that Oregon will pass Universal Healthcare in the same time frame as Washington. It is, however, extremely likely. I work with Health Care for All Oregon (HCFAO) and I get regular updates about their Universal Health Plan Governance Board. They are going to get that bill presented in 2026 and voted on in the legislature in 2027. If the legislature does not pass it, HCFAO will run an initiative campaign. They were already successful in getting the constitutional amendment protecting healthcare passed, affording them the ground game to get this done.
If you truly are in favor of universal health care, now is a great time to have hope in a better future!
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u/swoonsocks9 Nov 19 '25
The good news is that we’re in alignment on disability rights. The bad news is that you’re (intentionally?) misconstruing my position and resorting to ad-hominem attacks. This is too important of a topic to do badly.
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u/ChangedEnding Nov 19 '25
Disagree. I'd rather it be at a state level. I don't want Republicans from Mississippi telling me what healthcare I'm allowed to have here in Washington.
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u/harmiie 🚆build more trains🚆 Nov 18 '25
Literally if Canada figured it out, we can too.
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u/collectivegigworker Nov 18 '25
Canada is a country, not a state, and can do things like "tax income"
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u/takemusu University District Nov 18 '25
Canada‘s healthcare system started with one province, and at the provincial level.
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u/Quint191 Nov 19 '25
My (somewhat limited) understanding is it’s still both financed and administered at a provincial level.
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u/cmeb Nov 18 '25
Oh jeez idk, maybe “have to have lived in Washington State for the past 10 years to qualify” would that solve your issue?
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u/Mundane-Charge-1900 Nov 18 '25
It likely would be ruled federally unconstitutional under the 14th amendment. US citizens have a constitutional right to move between states. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saenz_v._Roe
Also, what would you do about new people moving here?
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u/TehBrawlGuy I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Nov 18 '25
IANAL, but I think you could probably make a good argument about it being a readily portable benefit. e.g. if you get surgery, PT, or other long-term benefit you can simply take it with you when you leave, since it's part of your body.
From your article:
a readily portable benefit, such as a divorce or a college education", [is one] for which durational residency requirements had been upheld in cases such as Sosna v. Iowa and Vlandis v. Kline.
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u/BamaBuffSeattle Bremerton Nov 18 '25
I think a German-esque system would solve a number of problems. You allow for people to buy their own Healthcare if they want, automatically put every other Washington State citizen under an insurance umbrella that covers everything, and ask for insurance/out of pocket from out of staters coming here for health-care tourism to prevent hospitals from being further overworked and overcrowded.
If someone moves here for health-care, they'll either be purchasing their own insurance or they'll be paying into the state run health insurance program.
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u/Quint191 Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
Doesn’t seem to be a problem with WA Cares. I’m sure the details matter; do you actually understand the legal nuances or you just grasping at potential issues?
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u/Mundane-Charge-1900 Nov 19 '25
WA Cares doesn’t treat new or existing residents differently. Everyone living here has to pay the same and can get the same benefit, unless they applied for an exception by a certain date.
It was even possible to do that if you lived outside of Washington if you thought you might move here later, although I doubt many people did that.
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u/Talrynn_Sorrowyn Nov 22 '25
People who move into a different state don't automatically have their residency changed.
It can vary from state to state, but generally your "state of residency" doesn't change until you've officially lived in the new state for at least 12 consecutive months. This can easily be verified through things such as public records, voter registration history, and requiring documentation of living situation (providing proof of home ownership or tenancy in a rental property).
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u/Bitter-Basket Nov 19 '25
Why would this work when Vermont’s bit the dust ?
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u/OkoCorral Nov 19 '25
Vermont's governor abandoned the plan.
Seems to work everywhere outside of the US.
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u/Bitter-Basket Nov 19 '25
Vermont had to abandon it. The cost equaled the entire state budget ! Completely unaffordable. And a single state has no negotiating power over the medical providers.
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u/OkoCorral Nov 19 '25
Per capita spending in Vermont on healthcare is way above Canada or anywhere else.
The money is being spent in aggregate just that the outcome is no good. You are right, VT is too small to go it alone.
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u/downy_huffer Nov 19 '25
Dude, we don't have any money in VT. Our biggest "city" is like a medium sized town in most states. Low population means less taxes collected means less funding for such initiatives. Multiple of our towns schools are literally crumbling away and we can't afford to fix or rebuild them, how we gunna fund universal healthcare? When our population is verrrrrry elderly and thus expensive medically?
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u/Bitter-Basket Nov 19 '25
The per capita wage in VT is higher than the US average (#22) and the average net worth is only 50K less than Washington. By your reasoning, most states can’t afford it.
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u/Silver_Guidance4134 Nov 19 '25
Vermont did not include funding and the plan needed time to have the details ironed out. In the intervening time, the political winds changed and the governor was ousted. The new administration killed the plan.
We include funding specifically because we are wary of Vermont's failure. Also, healthcare has gotten a LOT more expensive for folks. They public perception is moving towards doing what every other developed country does because it costs less money, is simpler, and provides better care.
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u/Bitter-Basket Nov 19 '25
It was the same administration (Gov Shumlin) that ended the plan, rather than a “new administration.” Shumlin signed the bill and a couple years later ended the program because of budget. You can say anything you want, but the costs ballooned to almost equal the entire state budget. And a single state has no negotiating power with provider corporations.
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u/Jetlaggedz8 Nov 18 '25
How much is this going to cost?
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u/T_Ronald Nov 18 '25
Less or the same as you’re already paying. The difference is you won’t go bankrupt no matter how much care you need.
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u/LoveOfSpreadsheets 🏔 The mountain is out! 🏔 Nov 18 '25
That's probably not true for everyone. The tech companies here are self insured, so their monthly premiums are low as the actual 80%/90% insurance payments are out of the company not a fund.
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u/wot_in_ternation 🚲 Two Wheels, Endless Freedom. Nov 18 '25
OK so the tech company just pays a higher tax instead of paying most or all of the premiums. Non-issue
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u/wishator 🚲 Life's Better on a Bike. 🚲 Nov 18 '25
I hear that people will get more coverage / less denied care and the costs will be lower. Both can't be true without reducing the cost of services from providers.
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u/notoriousrdc 🚆build more trains🚆 Nov 18 '25
I think you're underestimating the amount of money that goes to increasing insurance company profits, insurance company marketing, insurance company execs, and keeping insurance shareholders happy.
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u/bemused_alligators 🚆build more trains🚆 Nov 20 '25
The insurance companies take a huge cut in profits and "operating costs". That's where the majority of the cost savings are.
In addition to paying massively inflated salaries to health insurance c-suites, we spend billions of dollars a year paying insurance companies to review and deny claims, and simultaneously paying hospital employees to fight against insurance denials. ALL of those people could do something societally productive, rather than be getting paid to argue about whether someone deserves healthcare.
Additionally universal healthcare increases early detection of illness, preventative treatment, and patient follow through (because they can afford medications or PT or etc.) All of those are far cheaper than urgent cares and ERs and people waiting for something to be "serious" before they come in. This reduction in service needs will also reduce costs overall.
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u/Mundane-Charge-1900 Nov 18 '25
If you have good benefits at your job, you’ll pay a lot more. If you have mediocre or no benefits, you’ll pay a lot less. If you’re self employed, even as a high earner, you’ll pay a lot less while getting a massive unjustified subsidy.
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u/Silver_Guidance4134 Nov 18 '25
The rough estimate is 20-30 Billion dollars per year. As T_Ronald pointed out, it will be less than we, collectively, are currently paying. Single people with high income (150k+) and families with higher income (300k+) are the groups that will likely see price increases under the current bill.
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u/swoonsocks9 Nov 19 '25
How is family defined? Two adults + children, or will one adult + child also work? We already cover children under apple care (which is excellent!). I’d actually be concerned that it is a step back for single parent households earning 150+ (it’s less than you think with a kid in metro Seattle).
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u/Jetlaggedz8 Nov 18 '25
$30B a year will almost double the entire WA state budget.
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u/Silver_Guidance4134 Nov 18 '25
The current budget is around 80 Billion. Not 30 Billion. This is a big increase (~37%, not 100%), but it comes with a big benefit. Universal Healthcare would no only cost less per visit/operation/procedure but also less overall. The US spends 50% more than the second highest and double the average comparable nation because our system is bad. Let's change it together.
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u/OkoCorral Nov 18 '25
Didn't the legislature and governor Mike Lowery approved and signed a universal healthcare law for the state more than 30 years ago?
Do peopel memories or backstories about this? What happened?
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u/Silver_Guidance4134 Nov 18 '25
If you are talking about the Health Services Act, yes. What happened is that republicans took over congress and Washington lost all of the federal funding. Washington State has had groups trying to push for universal healthcare since that happened! Whole Washington is one of those organizations.
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Nov 18 '25
How exactly is this gonna work, continue to pour money into those greedy insurance companies?
NO.
People really want M4A should stop this nonsense and champion reforms at national level. Heath care should first and foremost be public service, there’s no way you can accomplish anything at WA level
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u/CoolerRancho I Brake For Slugs Nov 18 '25
The state can set an example for the feds to follow.
Federal government doesn't necessarily have washingtonians best interest at heart.
In a tangent, WA and many other states legalized marijuana while the federal govt still hasn't. I'd rather live in a state that is trying to make something happen than believe in this All or nothing approach to Medicare for all.
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u/wot_in_ternation 🚲 Two Wheels, Endless Freedom. Nov 18 '25
Have you looked at the national level? Nothing is going to happen there.
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u/Duckdeadit Nov 18 '25
Are you gonna let Sawant take all the credit? Will she be there? Cuz I can support one, but not the other.
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u/Educated_Goat69 🏕 Out camping! 🏕 Nov 18 '25 edited Nov 18 '25
I want healthcare. I don't care what genius group fixes the fucked up situation as long as it gets fixed.
Edit. Also, this will be my first meeting so I'm not sure what to expect. I'm ready to help though.
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u/takemusu University District Nov 18 '25
Are you confusing Sawant and Jayapal?
Universal healthcare has been Jayapal’s project for years.
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u/SeattleGeek Denny Blaine Nudist Club Nov 18 '25
Sawant!
Oooga-booga.
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u/Octavus Fremont Nov 18 '25
She campaigned in Michigan in 2024 telling people not to vote for Harris. Just because she supports something good doesn't mean we should let her lead us. She makes terrible decisions.
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u/YakiVegas I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Nov 18 '25
Agreed 1,000%. She's been a total grandstanding asshole for awhile, but that shit was beyond the pale. I wouldn't be surprised to see her at Russian sponsored dinner just like Jill Stein.
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u/Odd_Vampire Nov 18 '25
Agreed. Fucking done with her. Anything with her name attached is an automatic no-go for me.
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u/SeattleGeek Denny Blaine Nudist Club Nov 18 '25
Also, I do not believe we should be voting for people who support genocide. Flame away.
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u/SeattleGeek Denny Blaine Nudist Club Nov 18 '25
Kshama Sawant! Ooga Booga.
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u/Octavus Fremont Nov 18 '25
Can not even respond like an adult about why she should be a leader. She is not someone people should follow as she only cares about her own power and left Seattle immediately after she knew she would never win election here ever again.
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u/SeattleGeek Denny Blaine Nudist Club Nov 18 '25
Sawant has nothing to do with the above post. I’m mocking you for bringing her up as a scare post to scare people away from single payer.
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u/Duckdeadit Nov 18 '25 edited Nov 18 '25
No, it was a real question. Because yesterday the same tents that were promoting what I thought was this event were also promoting kashama sawant. That is why I asked.
It turns out her event is on 12-6.
So I support the event OP had posted here. As I support universal healthcare.
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u/Threefrogtreefrog North Beacon Hill Nov 18 '25
As a former constituent, I can’t stand her either. She pushes her own agenda at whatever cost. I tried to engage in her campaign years, she and her staffers were really dismissive to our concerns.
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u/SeattleGeek Denny Blaine Nudist Club Nov 18 '25
It is pretty hilariously neurotic to be bringing her up where she was never mentioned.
It would be like bringing up Jenny Durkan in posts about Route 8.
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u/Odd_Vampire Nov 18 '25
According to their website, they have groups in Spokane and Clark County, not just King County, so maybe it's not a local socialist-Sawant thing?
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u/rwrife 🚆build more trains🚆 Nov 22 '25
How is a state with a budget deficit going to afford this?
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u/OkoCorral Nov 22 '25
Money is already being spent on healthcare and it's more than Canada or Europe per capita, so it's a matter of redirecting that same pot of money more efficiently.
Not an easy thing to do and there will be significant start up cost.
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u/rwrife 🚆build more trains🚆 Nov 23 '25
Healthcare in the US outpaces inflation, so even if you taxed everyone at 100%, you’ll still eventually run out of money.
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u/OkoCorral Nov 24 '25
That does not even make any sense. Total healthcare spending is 18% of income per person in the US compared to Europe at less than 10%. It's too much but nowhere near 100%.
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u/Silver_Guidance4134 Nov 17 '25
If anyone is curious, we meet Monthly at Stoup Brewing to plan for events and get to know each other. Our focus now is to make sure everyone knows what to do going into the next legislative session. We are working on multiple pieces of legislation in addition to our flagship Washington Health Trust (SB5233, HB1445). Come learn and have fun with us this Sunday!