Money — or a lack of it — was a prominent theme at a community forum on health care coverage at First United Methodist Church on Wednesday night. Officials, activists and community members met to discuss the condition of health care in Oregon in the wake of massive budget cuts and the failure of universal health-care initiative Measure 23 in November.
State Sen. Bill Morrisette, D-Springfield, who is chairman of the senate’s Health Policy Committee, was the event’s featured speaker. Morrisette lamented what he said was the desperate situation of the state budget, and the subsequent effects on all government programs, especially state health programs.
“Oregon Health Plan is dead,” Morrisette said in a somber note.
Budget cuts for assistance programs such as the Oregon Health Plan and Medicaid, as well as the high costs of private insurance and prescription drugs, have left many without adequate health care coverage. Officials are looking for methods to raise revenues to establish new programs, such as a possible 1.5 percent payroll tax increase to employers for universal coverage for children.
One of the concerns associated with a payroll tax increase is the possibility employers will cut existing benefits to employees to meet the costs of the mandatory tax. Mark Shapiro, Lane County chairman of activist-group Health Care for All, added that the public’s reliance on employers to provide health coverage is one reason that taxpayers are reluctant to lend their support to the system.
Speakers at the community forum explained that as the costs of coverage increase, more and more employers, especially small firms, are dropping coverage and leaving employees without adequate health care. Literature at the forum stated that in 2002 there was a 12.7 percent increase in insurance premiums for employer-sponsored health care.
Lynn Marie Crider, AFL-CIO Research and Education director, said two-thirds of uninsured families have a member working full time.
Shapiro said Measure 23’s failure in the polls last November was a troublesome defeat for those who support a universal health care system. An effort to bring the initiative back to the ballots, he said, would be costly and time consuming. Instead, Health Care for All members want to work with state legislature and health care professionals to establish other workable programs.
Jessica Bradley, a recent University graduate, spoke at the event about her experiences without health care coverage. Though she holds a college degree, Bradley said she was unable to find a job that provided her with health care benefits.
Bradley’s fear and frustration could be a reality for many college graduates who assume they will always be able to access the health care system. According to 2001 information from the Census Bureau, 41.2 million Americans are uninsured, an increase of 1.4 million from 2000.
“This is unconscionable — as wealthy a nation as we are,”
Morrisette said. ” We are betraying ourselves.”