Seattle Urges Cantwell, Murray To Support Single-Payer Healthcare

SEATTLE, WA - Seattle Councilwoman Kshama Sawant on Monday introduced, and the full Council eventually passed, a resolution urging Washington's two senators to support a medicare-for-all bill in front of the U.S. Senate. Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced the bill last Wednesday, but it only has the support of about 16 Senators, and U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray are not among them.

Sawant's resolution calls out the two Senators directly, asking them to sign on to co-sponsor Sanders' medicare-for-all bill, which is essentially a single-payer healthcare system.

Both Murray and Cantwell have responded to the medicare-for-all option, but seem to brush off Sanders' bill as "part of the conversation" rather than a solution to burdensome healthcare costs.

"I look forward to continuing my work with Senator Sanders and others to find the best solution that covers everybody and is cost effective," Cantwell has said.

"I am really glad that Senator Sanders is introducing this bill," Murray has said. "[B]ut I am also excited about the great ideas that so many Democrats have to keep us moving toward the goal of healthcare for all - and this bill should absolutely be a big part of the conversation and something every Senator should look at seriously."

Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, introduced a single-payer bill in the House (as he does every year), which U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, and Adam Smith, D-Renton, both cosponsored. That bill, however, has not moved since it was referred to a House committee in February.

Image via City of Seattle