Jackson County Democrats

Two hundred loud and energetic Oregonians from all corners of the state raised their voices to power Wednesday on Salem's capitol steps.  The folks inside could be in no doubt about what was needed–or when.

"HEALTH CARE!" the crowd roared.  "NOW!"

All of us were there for a Health Care Action Day mobilization in support of the landmark legislation now making its way through the House.  We heard the poignant testimony of  "Judith," a working mother and small business owner, who had reached the end of her six months' of  appeals.  Her pituitary had been destroyed when she lost nearly all her blood in childbirth.  It now takes a bag full of medicines to keep her alive every month.  And under current law, she will soon be without them.  The alternative?  The state has suggested she apply for disability. 

"But I'm NOT disabled," she said.  "I have my own small business. I want to work!"

HB 2009 contains numerous fundamental health care reforms including an "everybody in, nobody out" provision that will ensure no Oregonian is without comprehensive health care.  If you have a private plan, you may keep it.  Or you may choose to participate in a new public plan which will be affordable to all (small business owners like Judith included!) on a sliding scale.  HB 2009 also creates a single powerful authority in Oregon to curb the abuses, inefficiencies and lack of transparency in the current insurance system, which rewards companies for collecting premiums from the healthy while upping denying claims and coverage to those most in need.

Since 1996, the average premium to cover an Oregon family has increased 150 percent!  Paying more has not resulted in more or better care. One in six Oregonians is without insurance. Around the world, other industrial democracies are insuring all their people–and spending at about half the rate the US does for health care.

Unlike the existing Oregon Health Plan, HB 2009 would be fully funded.  There will be a provider tax on hospitals, but hospitals will actually come out ahead.  First, they will no longer be treating the uninsured only in the emergency room when their condition is advanced or dire.  Instead, everyone will have access to comprehensive medical care.  Second, the hospitals will be compensated for all services rendered through funds already set aside in the latest federal budget–or raised through the state plan's sliding-scale fees.  It's estimated that they will net more than $2 in funding for every $1 of provider tax paid. However, for the Oregon Health Authority to receive those federal dollars, HB 2009 must pass.

After some live entertainment, including a song poking fun at life as a "pre-existing condition," a flood of happy warriors filed inside to urge their local representatives and senators to support HB 2009.  Five of us had traveled from the Rogue Valley, Rich Rohde of Oregon Action, the Rev. Caren Caldwell, Corinne Viéville and Bill Hahey, and  myself.  We spoke with with Rep. Sal Esqivel (R-Medford) and Sen. Alan Bates (D-Ashland).

Bates, a physician, and the principal author of HB 2009, thanked us for our support for the legislation, which is the product of public hearings held all over the state.

Rep. Esquivel refused to say whether he'd support HB 2009 "until I've seen the final bill."

However, we were gratified to hear him speak about pragmatic issues like the high cost of insurance–rather than ideology.  We left with the impression that Esquivel might be willing to work across the aisle–rather than vote along rigid party lines.  In the previous legislature, Esquivel voted against a tobacco tax increase which would have covered an additional 80,000 children under the Oregon Health Plan.  On Wednesday, however, he reminded us that he himself been denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition–even though the Veterans Affairs department long ago determined it was 100 percent service-related!  Sound like someone warming to the need for HB 2009's fundamental reforms?  We handed him a copy of Sunday's Mail Tribune editorial in strong support of the bill, which he said he hadn't seen.

While at the capitol, Corinne Viéville and Bill Hahey also testified on behalf of DUDE (Disabled United in Direct Empowerment) at a hearing on improving access to newspapers over the phone system–an automated service which looks likely to pass–funded with no increase to the current the state telecommunications tax.

Anyone wishing to support passage of HB 2009 through phone campaigns in support of HB 2009 may reach Rich Rohde at rich@oregonaction.org or (541) 772-4029.