FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1/20/2025
Contact: press@wholewashington.org
Press resources: www.wholewashington.org/press/
Universal healthcare legislation reintroduced into Senate to record cosponsors
Olympia, WA – Senator Bob Hasegawa of the 11th Legislative District has reintroduced a statewide universal healthcare bill called the Washington Health Trust into the Senate with a record 11 cosponsors. The bill has been assigned the number SB.5233.
Originally introduced in 2018 and reintroduced every biennium since, the bill aims to establish universal coverage for all Washington residents under a single comprehensive benefits package which covers all medically necessary care with no point-of-service costs. The proposal includes a transition plan and is fully paid for through new revenue raised via public financing.
The newly rewritten proposal features a number of revisions over its previous iteration including more graduated contribution rates for businesses and investors paying into the system, a permanent business hardship waiver program which would exempt struggling businesses while still covering their employees, and a citizen-majority governance board.
Previous iterations of the bill have had between three and seven cosponsors but the bill was reintroduced with six first-time cosponsors including two members of the Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee (Chapman, Bateman), the Deputy Majority Leader (Dhingra), a Western Washington University Professor of Economics (Shewmake), and the Majority Caucus Chair (Hasegawa). The complete list of cosponsors is listed below:
Hasegawa, Bateman, Chapman, Dhingra, Liias, Lovelett, Nobles, Saldaña, Shewmake, Stanford, Trudeau.
The proposal was written in collaboration with the 501(c)4 nonprofit Whole Washington and is featured on the 2025 Legislative Agenda of the Health Care is a Human Right Washington Coalition, a large community-labor coalition with 44 member organizations and 20 allied organizations including a number of labor unions.
“This is by far the best version yet of the Washington Health Trust and has incorporated feedback from Washington’s Universal Health Care Commission as well as community feedback from over 20 Town Halls we held all over the state last summer. It has earned its record support in the Senate,” said Andre Stackhouse, Whole Washington executive director.
The bill has been referred to the Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee where it will await a public hearing at the discretion of committee Chair Senator Anette Cleveland. The proposal has not been given a hearing in past legislative sessions.
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Photo from an event in Vancouver during the Whole Washington Summer Town Hall Road Trip series.
