Health Care for All Oregon

Our focus has always been single payer, but we’re working on other ways of getting to that goal. The effective lobbying of our volunteers helped get a public option included in HB 2009, and HCAO recommended local advocates for the Oregon Health Policy Board. We drafted minimum standards for the proposed Oregon Insurance Exchange and the public option.

Tell the Board:
• That all Oregonians should have the option to enroll in a publicly funded and publicly administered plan as part of the health insurance exchange
• That the exchange should create a large enough pool to get the best deal for consumers
• That the exchange governing board should be made up of consumers, not industry representatives
• That plans included in the exchange should include a minimum set of benefits
• That the exchange should allow you to compare plans in an easy way — apples to apples — and that you should be able to keep your insurance when you change jobs

When the legislature passed HB 2009 and HB 2116, Oregon took the biggest steps towards achieving health care for ALL of any state in the nation. Oregon
• established funding to cover all kids and re-open access to the Oregon Health Plan;
• required that all Oregonians be covered by 2015;
• and took actions to control costs, streamline administration, and improve transparency.

The Oregon Health Policy Board will implement the legislation and is required to propose a plan to cover everyone by 2015, a plan for the Oregon Insurance Exchange, and the state public option. These plans will be considered by the 2011 legislative session.

At the OHPB site you can see a list of Board members and a schedule of meetings with the agenda for the next meeting.

It is essential that HCAO and supporters ensure that the Board implements the legislation in ways that we can support. Click here if you want to receive updates from the Board on their work.

Click here to see what the Oregon Health Authority thinks about the federal reform and its implications for Oregon.