Members of the 31st Legislative District Democrats passed this resolution at our general meeting on June 28, 2017.
Have you heard about H.R. 676, the House Bill known as the “Expanded & Improved Medicare for All Act”? Introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Michigan Democrat John Conyers, the Bill now has 112 Democratic co-sponsors (and no Republican or 3rd party co-sponsors). The bill has significant support from medical, political, labor, and other organizations and governments, and yet only two of Washington’s 10 members of the U.S. House have put their names to the bill (Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Rep. Adam Smith). We need to show our support for the bill, and call upon our elected officials to fight for healthcare access for all!
Resolution to Encourage the Washington State Congressional Delegation to Co-Sponsor H.R. 676
WHEREAS everyone deserves access to affordable quality healthcare; and
WHEREAS the number of Americans without health insurance now exceeds 47 million; and
WHEREAS millions with insurance have coverage so skimpy that a major illness would lead to financial ruin, and medical illness and bills contribute to one-half of all bankruptcies; and
WHEREAS proposals for “consumer directed healthcare” would worsen this situation by penalizing the sick, discouraging prevention and saddling many working families with huge medical bills; and
WHEREAS managed care and other market-based reforms have failed to contain healthcare costs, which now threaten the international competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers; and
WHEREAS administrative waste stemming from our reliance on private insurers consumes one-third of health spending; and
WHEREAS U.S. hospitals spend 24.3% of their budgets on billing and administration while hospitals under Canada’s single payer system spend only 12.9%; and
WHEREAS American physicians are inundated with bureaucratic tasks and costs that Canadian physicians avoid; and
WHEREAS Harvard researchers estimated that more than $300 billion could be recovered by replacing private insurance companies with a single public payer, enough to cover the uninsured and to improve coverage for all those who now have only partial coverage; and
WHEREAS “consumer directed healthcare” adds yet another expensive layer of bureaucrats – the financial firms that manage health savings accounts; and
WHEREAS entrusting care to profit-oriented firms diverts billions of dollars to outrageous incomes for CEOs and threatens the quality of care; and
WHEREAS The Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act, which would assure universal coverage of all medically necessary services, contain costs by slashing bureaucracy, protect the doctor patient relationship, assure patients a completely free choice of doctors, and allow physicians a free choice of practice settings; and
WHEREAS as of June 21, 2017, 112 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives have co-sponsored H.R. 676; and
WHEREAS as of June 21, 2017, four Democratic members of Congress from Washington have declined to co-sponsor H.R. 676, including Denny Heck from Washington’s 10th Congressional District, and no Republican members of Congress from Washington have elected to co-sponsor H.R. 676, including Dave Reichert from Washington’s 8th Congressional District;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 31st Legislative District Democrats expresses its support for The Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act (HR 676), and calls upon the Democratic and Republican members of the Washington State Congressional Delegation who have not already done so to co-sponsor H.R. 676 and to work towards its enactment within the current Congress.
