Rep. Tariq Khan, D-Philadelphia, is pictured during a hearing earlier this year.

Nearly three dozen state House Democrats are supporting a constitutional amendment to make health care a human right in Pennsylvania.

A similar measure was approved by Oregon voters in the November in a statewide referendum vote, and Rep. Tariq Khan, D-Philadelphia, wrote in his co-sponsorship memorandum for House Bill 1562 that his bill is influenced by the Oregon bill. While the bill may pass the House when legislators return after their summer break, it would face an uphill battle in the state Senate.

“Pennsylvanians deserve to know their right to health care is protected constitutionally,” Khan wrote in his co-sponsorship memorandum. ” Which is why we are introducing legislation that would amend the state constitution to establish health care as a human right in Pennsylvania. Under the amendment, the state would be required to ensure that every resident has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate, and affordable health care as a fundamental right, as well as the opportunity to achieve and enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”

Kahn’s proposed constitutional amendment would say the state has the obligation to ensure every commonwealth resident has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right as well as the opportunity to achieve and enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The language is simple, but could come with complicated results if the amendment were to become law.

The Oregon amendment doesn’t define “cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable,” or who is supposed to pay. One of the criticisms of the Oregon proposal in the public debate before November’s vote is the possibility of the amendment being used to create a single-payer health care system in the state, something Republicans opposed.

“The bill doesn’t fund any system to deliver on that promise,” then-Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod said when the resolution was debated in March 2021, according to the Associated Press.

An Oregon state Senate committee earlier this year held hearings on Senate Bill 704, which would design an administrative structure for a universal health plan to assess how ready public institutions and health care infrastructure in Oregon are for a single-payer healthcare system, citing the passage of Measure 111 as justification.

“Oregonians have spoken out loud and proclaimed that healthcare is a human right here,” Sen James Manning, D-Eugene, said during the meeting. “This plan will cover everyone. This is an important step towards the realization that healthcare is a human right.”

Pennsylvania has seen single-payer healthcare bills introduced before, but they haven’t made it out of legislative committees in the past.

Pennsylvania has a higher rate of residents with health insurance than Oregon (95% to 94.5%), with nearly 372,000 Pennsylvanians were enrolled in a comprehensive health plan through Pennie, the state’s health care exchange. Throughout Open Enrollment, over 56,000 households, 23 percent of which were new applicants, were transferred to Medical Assistance or CHIP to apply for no-cost coverage. Pennie was helped by additional federal pandemic funding that decreased the cost for Pennie’s gold health plans, that typically have lower point of service costs than silver and bronze plans, meaning customers pay less out-of-pocket to access healthcare services. That isn’t a fact lost on Khan.

“In the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, access to health care has never been more important,” Khan wrote. “Unfortunately, the pandemic has further highlighted how difficult it can be to access or afford health care. By establishing health care as a human right in Pennsylvania, we can ensure the wellbeing of every individual and family is protected and their dignity upheld.”