Christian Science Monitor Profiles Universal Care Initiative in Oregon

The Christian Science Monitor on Sept. 24 examined a ballot measure in Oregon that would establish a universal health care system. Under the measure, called the "Oregon Comprehensive Health Care Finance Plan," the state would cover the cost of health care for residents through progressive income and payroll taxes, with a cap at 8% of an individual's income. The state would exempt residents with annual incomes less than 150% of the federal poverty level, or $8,860 for an individual. State residents would not pay premiums, copayments, deductibles or out-of-pocket expenses, and the measure would provide coverage for a "full range of physical and mental health services," as well as long-term care and "alternative" treatments. In addition, the state could not exclude residents with preexisting medical conditions from coverage. An independent, not-for-profit corporation administered by a 15-member board would operate the universal health care system and would negotiate contracts with providers. Supporters predict that the measure would save the state billions of dollars per year in administrative health care costs and would address the problem of the state's uninsured. "People are really ready for a big change in the system. Everybody we've talked to has a problem with health insurance or they know a friend who has a horror story," Britt McEachern of Health Care for All Oregon, the group that sponsored the ballot measure, said. The Monitor reports that the "political landscape has changed considerably from the early 1990s," when a universal health care system proposed by former President Clinton "crashed and burned." Today, budget deficits have forced many states to make reductions in public health care programs, and Americans have become "increasingly worried about losing health benefits," the Monitor reports. However, business groups and private health plans said that they would "mount a large and expensive campaign to fight the Oregon measure." Officials from Associated Oregon Industries, a group that represents businesses in the state, said that the taxes imposed under the measure would "hurt individual taxpayers, cripple Oregon businesses and cost Oregon jobs." The measure is on the November ballot (Knickerbocker, Christian Science Monitor, 9/24).