What to do with all this money?
There are two measures on the state ballot this year that attempt to answer this question, which refers to the sizable chunk of funds coming Oregon’s way via the recent major settlement with U.S. tobacco companies.
How sizable? State estimates predict that Oregon will receive $339 million by the end of June 2003 and as much as $2.3 billion over the next twenty-five years under the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement of 1998.
Ballot Measures 4 and 89 present two different plans for allocating the money, which is currently unrestricted by state law. Because the two measures are in direct conflict, the one receiving more “yes” votes will be adopted, unless neither measure gets a majority vote.
Measure 4 would establish the Oregon Health Plan Trust Fund. All interest earned by investing the trust fund would be continuously applied to the Oregon Health Plan, which provides low-income health-care assistance to thousands of Oregonians.
The trust fund itself would also be available for the Oregon Health Plan if deemed necessary. If state economists predict economic recession, the legislature could, with a two-thirds majority vote, cut into the trust fund to subsidize the health plan. Ed Patterson, vice president of governmental relations for the Oregon Hospital Association, thinks the Oregon Health Plan is the right place to invest settlement dollars.
“The health care industry has been greatly affected by tobacco use,” Patterson said. “It makes sense to put the money back into health care.”
Measure 89 would put all settlement money into creating the Health Security Fund, which would support a variety of programs in the following order: public and mental health programs, transportation services for the elderly, housing for low-income and disabled people, tobacco use prevention, Oregon Health Sciences University and shelter care for women who are victims of domestic violence.
The Health Security Fund itself could also be used for these programs under the same conditions that would apply to the Oregon Health Plan Trust Fund under Measure 4. Steve Manela, human services commission manager for the Lane County Department of Health and Human Services, likes the broad distribution plan of Measure 89.
“The state needs improvement in a wide variety of programs,” Manela said, “not just in health care or smoking prevention.”
Many people and organizations are critical of both measures. John Valley, state advocacy manager for the American Cancer Society of Oregon, believes that both measures are misguided because they don’t prioritize tobacco-use prevention and education.
“We should use tobacco money to fight tobacco use in Oregon,” Valley said. “We need to invest in tobacco prevention now if we want to achieve long-term success.”