Whole Washington is working urgently to make universal healthcare a reality as soon as possible through the political process. Our signature universal healthcare proposal is called the Washington Health Trust and has been introduced to the public since 2018 as both ballot initiatives and bills in both chambers of the legislature. Though we have yet to achieve our goal of universal healthcare for Washington residents, our efforts have gained the support of legislators, built an impressive network of grassroots organizations, raised tens of thousands of dollars, and gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures. You can read about the different strategic pathways on this page and click the button below to sign up as a volunteer to help us make it happen.
State Legislature Strategy
The Washington Health Trust is in both chambers for the 2025-2026 Legislative Session!
Senate Bill 5233 was introduced on 1/14/2025 with 11 cosponsors: Hasegawa, Bateman, Chapman, Dhingra, Liias, Lovelett, Nobles, Saldaña, Shewmake, Stanford, Trudeau
House Bill 1455 was introduced on 1/21/2025 with 17 cosponsors: Parshley, Scott, Berry, Doglio, Farivar, Alvarado, Reed, Ramel, Wylie, Goodman, Cortes, Macri, Fosse, Ormsby, Pollet, Hill, Simmons
Commission Strategy
Washington's Senate Bill 5399 established a permanent universal healthcare commission, comprising 13 members appointed by the governor and legislature. The commission is responsible for recommending a universal healthcare system with a unified financing system to the state legislature. Whole Washington supports this effort and advocates for a truly universal, public, and nonprofit single-payer plan.
- Join the Commission Team
- Submit written comments or sign up to testify by emailing the UHCC: HCAUniversalHCC@hca.wa.gov
Ballot Initiative Strategy
Washington is fortunate to be one of the 26 states in which citizens may propose legislation on the ballot for voters to approve or reject through a direct vote.
Making the ballot
Getting legislation on the ballot requires the collection of signatures from registered Washington voters. Getting on a statewide ballot requires approximately 400,000 signatures. Signatures can only be collected with ink on paper. While there are different kinds of initiatives, we tend to focus on an initiative to the legislature because it has the most generous window for signature gathering, typically about nine months between April and December. While our past campaigns have been entirely volunteer efforts, we are working to increase our fundraising to provide staff support and to hire paid signature gatherers to help collect at least some of the required signatures. For these reasons we emphasize the following goals as necessary to a successful initiative campaign:
- Increasing our fundraising for staff and paid canvassers
- Building a coalition of organizational support (including organized labor)
- Recruiting and training a huge network of volunteers
Winning the vote
Making the ballot is a huge challenge but winning the vote will be expensive as winning any statewide election typically requires a large advertising campaign.
Pledge to sign
One way you can support getting universal healthcare on the ballot is to sign our online pledge indicating you will sign out next initiative, which will make it easier for us to find you and collect that signature when the time comes. It's an easy way to help us build and show support so we know that we will be ready. Once you've pledged, an easy next action to take is to share the pledge with your family, friends, coworkers, and on social media.
Federal Congress Strategy
Whole Washington supports nationally expanded and improved Medicare for all as the most cost-effective and socially just universal healthcare plan. We support Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) as sponsors of Medicare for All. We also support Rep. Ro Khanna's (CA) State-Based Universal Healthcare Act (SBUHCA). We request that you please ask your representatives and senators to sign on as cosponsors to these bills in Congress. Additionally, ask them if they would sponsor a companion bill for SBUHCA, which would make it easier for state-based single-payer plans to be enacted until a national plan is passed.
