Whole Washington is so excited to have you with us in this fight for single-payer healthcare. We’re still reeling from the success of the UHC presentation, and we must continue to strike while the iron is hot – taking action to support universal single-payer healthcare here in Washington and nationally.
If you missed the UHC presentation or the replay, you can watch it on YouTube.
ACTION:
We are collaborating with Healthcare For All – WA and One Payer States on this one-click action in support of Ro Khanna’s State-Based Universal Health Care Act of 2023 (SBUHCA, 2023). With your help we can remove a major barrier to the state-based single-payer healthcare strategy.
You can send the letter as-is when you click the link or you can customize it.
Either way – please edit the subject line. âď¸
Custom letter option –Â Body of text:
We all know that health care in the USA is a mess, and WA is no exception.
In Washington:
- Asthma rates and treatment costs are ranked among the highest in the nation
- In primary and pediatric care WA ranks at or below the 25th percentile in comparison to the other 49 states
- Nearly half of WA families cannot afford their health care, leading to delayed care, rationing of medicines like insulin, or bankruptcy due to medical debt – the number one cause cited in bankruptcy filings in the US.
But there is a solution – and 63% of Americans want it now.
Washington could be the first state in the nation to offer a state-based universal health care plan to all state residents. But to do so we need to get the federal government on board. In late September of 2023, Congressman Khanna will present a bill to modify federal restrictions on Medicare, Medicaid, ERISA, and taxation, thus allowing states like WA to create a state-based universal healthcare system.
This is your chance to be a part of this historic legislation from the start.
I am asking you to co-sponsor the State-Based Universal Health Care Act (HR 3775) that Rep. Ro Khanna will introduce later this month.
Thank you very much,
Thank you for taking this important action. Please consider following up your email with a phone call to your representative. One-click makes this really simple by providing the phone number and a sample script after the submission of your letter. Share widely.
Update from Board Chair – Carey Wallace
I’ve struggled to write this update and I suppose I should apologize up front for the content. It’s not light. It’s not fun. But for me, it has been motivating and definitely feeds the “why am I doing this?!” question.
So – I have a family member who is quite ill and still working, for healthcare. Sure, they love their job and can’t see themselves “just sitting around waiting to die” – but one of the primary drivers behind spending their last months – at their job – is insurance. Possibly worse, this person is committed to living until their next birthday, despite their diagnoses, because if they don’t, their spouse will not be covered by their insurance after they die.
This is gross and infuriating. These are not “choices” one should be faced with during the final phase of life. This is the impact of the profit motive in our healthcare.
No bucket list, no last hoorahs, no last goodbyes. Die at your desk – for insurance.
I believe with every fiber of my being that we can win this. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves why it is so important that we are doing this work. Think about what brought you into this organization, and hold onto it when things get hard or when you get tired. We will win this fight – for your family and mine.
– Carey
Coming Soon
Volunteer Meeting 10/2
The next monthly meeting will be on Monday, October 2nd. Links on the September Events calendar.
Washington State Fair 9/22-9/24
(aka Puyallup Fair)
It’s not too late and we have plenty of entry passes! We’ll have a booth for three days, and the theme this year is Consumer Awareness. Seems pretty perfect! If you want to be involved, either go to our Slack and join the #fair-time channel or shoot an email to [email protected]
Town Halls
Next spring and summer
Coming to a venue near you. We’re stealing strategy ideas from the Slay the Dragon playbook. That means being out in the real world, talking to real people about fixing our broken healthcare system–that’s the plan. Watch the movie and join our next meeting for brainstorming and action planning!
Speaking of Slay the Dragon – Save the Date! Whole Washington will be hosting an online showing on January 21st, 2024 – more details to come!
We Need You!
Even though we’re not gathering signatures right now, there are many ways to help.
- We still need Team Leads and help with communications, help contacting elected officials, writing letters to the editor, graphics, taking meeting notes– all those types of tasks.
- We’re looking for Healing US House Party Hosts! We have a draft host guide that needs to be tested with a pilot party – let us know if you’re interested and we can send you a DVD copy of the movie and the draft host guide.
- We need to start reaching inward and re-activating our volunteers past & present. If you would like to start making phone calls to our supporters to get them back into Slack, into our monthly volunteer meetings, and showing up for Whole Washington collecting signature pledges, etc. Please jump in!
If you haven’t already, Sign up to Volunteer Here. Please use the comment box to tell us what you’d be most interested in &/or what skills you have to offer the movement.
Together, we’re a force in this fight for healthcare justice.
– Whole Washington
