On June 17, 2025, this OP ED in the Seattle Times: “Patients hurt most by Aetna-UW Medicine contract failure” describes how 50,000 people suddenly lost their healthcare insurance coverage, and they had no recourse. Read the story here:
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/patients-hurt-most-by-aetna-uw-medicine-contract-failure/
The Aetna-UW Medicine contract failure brings out the basic flaws in our current healthcare system, where profit motives and employment-based coverage create unnecessary barriers to care and disrupt critical provider-patient relationships. A universal healthcare system that is publicly funded but privately delivered would eliminate these disruptions and maintain the benefits of private healthcare delivery.
By ensuring all providers are “in-network,” decoupling coverage from employment, reducing administrative waste, and enhancing transparency, such a system would address the core deficiencies and improve access to care. Until we fix it, the current healthcare system will continue to degrade healthcare by placing profit considerations above patient needs. A universal system would reorient healthcare around its fundamental purpose: ensuring everyone has access to the care they need, when they need it, without financial barriers or network disruptions.
In 2021 through Senate Bill 5399, the Universal Health Care Commission (UHCC) was set up to prepare Washington for universal coverage. In 2024 the results of three critical studies to develop infrastructure, unify the healthcare system, and meet federal waiver requirements projected savings ranging from $738 million to $12 billion annually while expanding benefits like vision, dental, and mental health services.
Every reader should urge their Washington legislator to tell the UHCC to publish their design for a universal healthcare system for all Washingtonians.
Find your legislator here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder
Ron's Musings 
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