Meetings and materials

The purpose of the Universal Health Care Commission is to make health care more accessible and affordable for all Washington residents.

On this page

Public comment

All Universal Health Care Commission meetings are public meetings, and members of the public are welcome and encouraged to share their input. All feedback—written and verbal—is shared with commission members. Please review what to expect when providing public comments.

Share your input

There are two ways to share input:

  • Speak during the designated public comment time at our meetings. Sign up to provide public comment by 5 p.m. the day before the meeting occurs. We’ll invite those who signed up before the meeting to speak in the order they signed up, followed by those who didn’t sign up, if there’s time remaining.
  • Submit written comments at any time. We’ll include comments received at least two weeks before a meeting in the upcoming meeting’s materials. If you submit your comments less than two weeks before a meeting, we’ll include them in the following meeting’s materials.

Upcoming meetings

Date and time Location
Thursday, September 3
2–5 p.m.

Meet at HCA or join on Teams.
Thursday, October 15
2–5 p.m.

Meet at HCA or join on Teams.
Thursday, December 10
2–5 p.m.

Meet at HCA or join on Teams.

Hybrid meetings

All commission meetings have been hybrid meetings since June 2023. This means attendees may either:

  • Log into the Zoom meeting
  • Attend in person to view and participate in the Zoom meeting at the Health Care Authority (HCA)

Location and directions

Washington State Health Care Authority
Cherry Street Plaza
Sue Crystal Center, Conference Rooms 106A and 106B
626 8th Ave. SE
Olympia, WA 98501

Visitor map with parking instructions

Accommodation requests

You can request live close captioning, or Communication Access Real-time Transcription (CART) services, for our meetings. Scheduling CART services takes up to three weeks, so please send a request by email as soon as possible.

For other language access accommodations, call 1-855-682-0787 (or Telecommunications Relay Service 711).

All meetings sponsored by the Health Care Authority meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. Read HCA’s nondiscrimination statement for more details.

Past meetings

This section includes meeting recordings from 2023 through 2025. To request recordings from 2022 and earlier, contact the Commission.

2026
Date Location Topics Materials
June 18 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Proposed framework for decisions about universal primary care
  • Ways to pay providers in a universal system
  • Ideas for studying how much a universal system will cost 
April 30 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Report outs from state agency representatives and commission members
  • Proposal to create a universal primary care benefit 
  • Ways to pay providers in a universal system
February 12

This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Update about proposals and guidelines for ways to pay providers in a universal system
  • Ideas for further study of cost or payment models
  • First steps toward designing how people would enroll in a universal system
2025

Date

Location

 Topics

Materials
December 11 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Hear about changes to the Commission’s 2026 work plan
  • Stay updated on the Finance Technical Advisory Committee’s work and the Commission’s vote on a new committee member
  • Learn about trends in health care costs in Washington
October 9 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Hear final feedback on the 2025 annual report to the Legislature
  • Learn how FTAC is tackling provider payments in a universal system
  • Look ahead to the Commission’s 2026 work plan
September 11 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Learn how states could work together with interstate compacts
  • Review straw proposals about key design elements
  • Look ahead to transitional solutions

Advocates roundtable
August 5

 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.

In this moderated discussion, advocacy groups shared their visions for universal health care in Washington. We hosted representatives from:

  • Health Care for All – Washington
  • Health Care Is a Human Right – Washington
  • Washington Community Action Network (CAN)
  • Whole Washington
June 11 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • State budget and work plan updates
  • Universal health care benefit design
  • Next steps for governance and provider reimbursement
April 17 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Whether to consider governance earlier in the design process
  • Results of a benefit cost analysis
  • Guidance for future modeling of a universal system
February 13

This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Update on the Universal Health Care Commission’s 2025 work plan
  • Lessons learned from Oregon’s experience with price caps
  • Rural perspectives on universal design
2024

Date

Location

 Topics

Materials
December 5 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • State approaches to access and affordability
  • Cost containment models
  • The Commission's 2025 work plan
October 10 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Principles of cost sharing in a universal system
  • Update about Apple Health Expansion
  • Office of the Insurance Commissioner's Health Care Affordability report
August 15 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Prior authorization
  • Presentation on Apple Health Expansion
June 4 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Administrative simplification: panel discussion, next steps
  • Finance Technical Advisory Committee (FTAC) updates
April 17 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • FTAC’s assessment of SB 5335 as proposed by Whole Washington, and considerations for an actuarial analysis of benefits across select payers
  • 2024 legislative updates
  • Administrative simplification: a Washington perspective
February 2 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • 2024 work plan
  • The Finance Technical Advisory Committee’s (FTAC) guidance to the Commission on Medicaid
  • Benefits and Services
  • Administrative simplification and efforts underway in Washington
2023

Date

Location

 Topics

Materials
December 14, 2023 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • 2024 work plan and prioritization of transitional solutions
  • Presentation from Whole Washington on Eligibility under the Washington Health Trust bill (SB 5335, 2023)
  • Overview of the Office of the Insurance Commissioner Preliminary Report on Health Care Affordability
October 12, 2023 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • FTAC's guidance on the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)
  • Vote to adopt the 2023 report to the Legislature
  • Begin planning for 2024 and continue transitional solutions discussion
August 10, 2023 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Guidance from the Commission to FTAC on Medicaid
  • Presentation from Whole Washington on the Washington Health Trust bill (SB 5335, 2023)
  • Continued discussion on transitional solutions
  • 2023 Legislative report overview
June 13, 2023 This meeting was held on Zoom and at HCA.
  • Guidance from the Commission to FTAC on Medicaid
  • Presentation from Whole Washington on the Washington Health Trust bill (SB 5335, 2023)
  • Continued discussion on transitional solutions
  • 2023 Legislative report overview
April 11, 2023 This meeting was held on Zoom.
  • Request to analyze the Washington Health Trust bill (SB 5335, 2023)
  • Equity presentation
  • Transitional solutions
February 9, 2023 This meeting was held on Zoom.
  • Transitional solutions
  • Direction for the Finance Technical Advisory Committee (FTAC)
  • Tribal health presentation
2022

Date

Location

Materials
December 15, 2022 This meeting was held on Zoom.
October 13, 2022 This meeting was held on Zoom.
August 16, 2022 This meeting was held on Zoom.
July 13, 2022 This meeting was held on Zoom.
June 16, 2022 This meeting was held on Zoom.
April 14, 2022 This meeting was held on Zoom.
February 25, 2022 This meeting was held on Zoom.
January 4, 2022 This meeting was held on Zoom.
2021

Date

Location

Materials
November 30, 2021 This meeting was held on Zoom.

Contact

Email: Universal Health Care Commission