Key findings:

1. SB 5399 introduced in the 2021 legislative session is the latest proposal to create another universal health care commission. An earlier state-appointed committee, the Universal Health Care Work Group, was commissioned by the Legislature in 2019. It ended its deliberations by recommending the creation of yet another universal health care commission to submit additional reports.

2. SB 5399 would create a commission with a misguided policy goal: studying a health care system that the people of Washington have shown again and again that they do not want, that the state is unlikely to be able to manage or afford and that depends on the unmet promises of government-run, universal health care.

3. The Office of the Secretary of State lists several failed political attempts to impose a universal system of care, including Initiative 141 in 1992; Initiative 227 in 1999; Initiative 245 in 2000; and Initiative 945 and Initiative 952 in 2017. None of these proposals gained the support of voters.

4. The experience of other countries shows that universal health care creates the very problems Washington’s many state commissions and work groups claim it would solve. Loss of affordability, restricted access, rationing of care, and lower quality of care are common issues associated with universal health care and single-payer systems.

5. Instead of more focus on universal health care, time would be better spent fixing agreed-upon problems in our state’s current system of health care, by giving patients more control and choices in how they access care.

Introduction

Since at least the 1990s, Washington state officials have created one commission, working group or study panel after another to consider whether Washington state should impose a government-run, universal health care system. This has become a perennial public-relations exercise, but so far efforts to rally support for abandoning private health coverage and broad consumer choice, shifting to a single, government-run system, have proven unsuccessful.

These official working groups and panels have not been able to solve the many foreseen problems associated with universal health care, including how to fund such a system and how to safeguard against rationed care and decreased quality. The proposal for imposing a socialized universal health care system remains as unpopular in Washington today as it was 30 years ago.

This Legislative Memo reviews SB 5399, the latest proposal to create another universal health care commission in Washington State.

Read the full Legislative Memo here.