House Health & Wellness Committee Work Session on Universal Health Care Commission Report, Primary Care  

On September 23, the House Health Care & Wellness Committee held a virtual Work Session to prepare for the 2025 legislative session. One hour of the Work Session was dedicated to the draft of the Universal Health Care Commission’s report that will be sent to the legislature in November. This hour included substantial public comments.

Health Care Is a Human Right stood out in its impact on public testimony. A large majority of those who testified were from HCHR member organizations, including Washington CAN, Whole Washington, PSARA, Healthcare for All WA, and other organizations.

HCHR organizations spoke in unison about the need for the Commission to have concrete deadlines, along with a plan to present recommendations to the legislature of what a Universal Healthcare plan should look like. 

WACAN member Gina Owens recognized that equity wasn't emphasized enough in the draft report, and her comments reflected a desire to see a stronger more thoughtful discussion of equity and an equity lens when decisions are being made. Another veteran WACAN member, Joelle Craft, called for increased input from experts on single-payer systems. Brynn Freal, also a WACAN member, brought some fire and energy when talking about her story of being directly impacted by inadequate and expensive health care and the urgency of the UHCC’s mission. 

The majority of the work session was dedicated to primary care. As a percentage of overall healthcare spending in Washington, our state is currently spending less than half of its 12% target on primary care.  Three subjects received in-depth attention: network access for patients, the workforce, and state efforts to increase primary care spending.

The discussion around network access was led primarily by Jane Beyer and Jennifer Kreitler, Senior Health Policy Advisor and Provider Network Oversight for the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, respectively. Jim Freeburg, Executive Director for the Patient Coalition of Washington made an excellent data and survey-informed presentation on the lack of patient access to primary care.

From the perspective of the healthcare workforce’s impact on primary care spending, several presenters shared their perspectives, including Renee Fullerton of Health Workforce Council, Workforce Training & Education Coordinating Board and Dr. Grace Shih, Director of the Family Medicine Residency Network. 

The discussion on primary care practice was rounded out with Dr. Jim Record, Dean of the Washington State University Medical School, and Dr. Suzanne Allen, Vice Dean of the University of Washington School of Medicine. A key takeaway was that while we have increased the number of doctors, it is still not enough to meet current needs and the fact that medical school debt is so high for young doctors that primary care practice is financially untenable, with an average doctor graduating with over $190,000 in debt after attending our public medical schools.