It’s no secret that University of Oregon’s Health Center has long waitlists, a lack of medication and steep fees. These issues are compounded by the further lack of access to affordable healthcare in Eugene, leaving students and the local community to suffer.
Stella Schneider, a junior studying business and psychology, has regularly visited the UO Health Center when sick. She noted that while the care was adequate, wait times were long and that things “could be improved a bit.”
Schneider also mentioned she has noticed a lack of access to women’s health resources and programs at UO, and in Eugene as a whole. When a friend of hers went to the health center to get an IUD, she faced issues that led her to seek care elsewhere.
“I think changes need to be made,” Schneider said. As students feel the weight of limited care options, it seems that this points to a much larger crisis taking place.
With the shutdown of Eugene’s only emergency room in December 2023, the shutdown of Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets in April 2025 and urgent care clinics that take hours to get an appointment at, Eugene residents are being put at risk. These changes allow for further delays in care, unnecessary and avoidable medical complications and mental health crises to go untreated.
During my freshman year, I had a sinus infection that took me out for nearly two weeks. After finally deciding to seek care at a walk-in clinic near campus, my last name was misspelled, causing my insurance not to cover the expenses. Three years later and countless phone calls to many billing departments, I never got a cent back from an over $300, five-minute visit.
Recently, a friend of mine visited this same clinic, where they paid only a $60 copay. So, without insurance, a patient might face a 400% increase for the same care received. As useful as health insurance can be, it also took this same friend over eight months to receive health insurance after moving to Oregon.
The impact of limited healthcare access hits some harder than others. Eugene’s unhoused population is already facing increased health risks and barriers to receiving care. With funding reductions and diminished capacity for winter warming centers in Eugene, the lack of accessible and affordable healthcare becomes significantly more dangerous.
Healthcare access has long been a systemic issue, which Oregon will continue to face as federal funds steadily diminish. According to the Oregon Department of Human Services, the Oregon Health Plan may see up to a $10 billion decrease over the next decade.
The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation recently noted that it expects insurance rates to increase by around 9.7% in 2026. This is due to the expiration of “federal Affordable Care Act tax subsidies” on Dec. 31, 2025, that helped to offset medical costs for many Oregonians.
These local failures point to a deeper-rooted issue that goes beyond the need for short-term fixes.
Healthcare for All Oregon is a nonprofit that has been working on universal health care reform in Oregon for over 20 years. According to their website, the organization advocates for equity, affordability and a “high-quality publicly funded universal healthcare system.”
Collin Stackhouse is HCAO’s communications coordinator. He explained that our current for-profit healthcare system is deeply broken.
“The biggest systemic failure is not having moved as a state to universal health care decades ago; propping up a broken system is the problem,” Stackhouse said.
“Canada spends half the money that we spend (on healthcare) in the U.S., and their people live five years longer on average than most Americans. The current status quo is the most expensive option on the planet, and it’s time for a change,” Stackhouse said.
HCAO helped create and now advocates for Oregon’s Universal Health Plan Governance Board, which is developing a plan to transition Oregon to a universal health care system by the 2027 legislative session.
“Oregon has shown remarkable tenacity and an ability to think creatively within a federal system that is dysfunctional and failing,” Stackhouse said.
