CITY OF SEATTLE
RESOLUTION __________________
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A RESOLUTION expressing the Seattle City Council's support for a single-payer healthcare system ("Medicare for All"), supporting United States Senate Bill 1804, and requesting the support of Washington's U.S. Senators.
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WHEREAS, in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25 designates healthcare to be a human right, stating: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care"; and
WHEREAS, a public discussion about healthcare began in early 2017 as President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated would have resulted in 22 million additional people losing healthcare coverage; and
WHEREAS, despite improvements made by the Affordable Care Act, 28.1 million people in the United States remained uninsured, and many more underinsured, in the first three months of 2017, according to an August 2017 survey published by the Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Health Statistics; and
WHEREAS, the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner reported in February 2016 that 6.7 percent of people in King County are uninsured; and
WHEREAS, May 2017 studies published in The Lancet show that the for-profit healthcare and health insurance system in the United States costs $9,237 per capita, more than in any other country in the world; and
WHEREAS, a "Medicare for All" healthcare system can provide healthcare to all Americans without the waste of for-profit insurance companies; and
WHEREAS, on September 13, 2017, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders introduced United States Senate Bill 1804 ("S. 1804"), titled "A bill to establish a Medicare-for-all health insurance program," with the cosponsorship of 16 other Senators; and
WHEREAS, Senator Sanders previously introduced sim...
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