Health Care Solutions Town Hall
Town Hall: What Health Care Programs are available for Oregonians?
When: Thursday, August 14, 2008, 6:30-7:45 PM
Where: Aloha High School, 18550 SW Kinnaman Road Beaverton, Oregon 97007
Please join me for an informal Town Hall on health care. I know most Oregonians are concerned about escalating health care costs. And I know businesses, especially small businesses, are scrambling to keep their employees covered.
The idea of this forum is to let consumers know what “is out there" in the way of reducing costs on things like prescription drugs.
I also wanted to review The Healthy Oregon Act passed in the 2007 regular legislative session. I'd like to know others' thouhts on that law, but I think it holds promise for help down the road.
I was able to convince Maribeth Healey, Executive Director of Oregonians for Health Security. (www.oregoniansforhealthsecurity.org) to share her knowledge about new changes in law that will lower health care costs. Maribeth is Oregon's resident expert on health care and I've found her to be a trustworthy, straight-shooting person in this area.
She will also go through The Healthy Oregon Act passed in the 2007 regular legislative session. I'd like to know others' thouhgts on that law, but I think it holds promise for help down the road.
The timeliness of this forum is underscored by the prices that Oregonian families are spending on their health care. As of 2006, the yearly average family insurance premium was $10,880 and 613,000 Oregonians were left uninsured; while many more Oregonians were underinsured or paid more for their health care coverage. Things have only gotten worse. It is estimated that today, a family of four pays an average insurance premium that is over $12,000.
Healthy families is probably the most important public policy area I could be working on. I've known that since my first term in office, when I teamed up with former Gov. John Kitzhaber to adopt a drug formulary for the oregon Health Plan. As a parent (and a taxpayer), I'm concerned about the health of my children and the burden that they will be shouldering if we do not look for responsible and sustainable solutions to the health care problem in our state.
