By Bennett Hall
Corvallis (Ore.) Gazette-Times, March 18, 2013
Oregon health care reformers are hoping a measure working its way through the Legislature will help them prove what they’ve been claiming all along: that a single-payer system is the cheapest way to provide quality care for all.
House Bill 3260 would direct the Oregon Health Authority to conduct a feasibility study on at least four options for financing health care delivery in the state, including a publicly financed single-payer system.
The study also would evaluate the costs of continuing to rely on a mix of public health plans and private insurance; an option that would allow consumers to choose between publicly funded and private plans; and one or more other options designed by the researchers conducting the study.
In addition, HB 3260 sets out a list of criteria that any financing system should meet. Among other things, the system should provide:
• universal access to comprehensive care;
• transparency and accountability;
• integration of physical, dental, vision, mental health and long-term care;
• reduction of administrative costs; and
• sufficient, fair and sustainable financing.
Rep. Michael Dembrow, a chief sponsor of the bill, called it part of a long-term plan to create a single-payer health care system in Oregon.
The Portland Democrat noted that the earliest such a system could be implemented would be 2017, when states can seek waivers under the federal Affordable Care Act. In the meantime, he and others are laying the groundwork.
Earlier this session, Dembrow reintroduced the Health Care for All Oregon Act, which would create the framework for a state single-payer system. While he doesn’t expect that measure, House Bill 2922, to pass this session, Dembrow noted that its already attracted 24 sponsors, more than twice the support he got for HB 3510 in the 2011 Legislature.
“The bill is not fully fleshed out in terms of a funding mechanism,” he said. “What we need to do is get to that level of specificity, and that’s what (HB 3260) does.”
Dr. Mike Huntington of Corvallis, a leader of the statewide reform group Health Care for All Oregon, said a thorough financial analysis could set the stage for serious discussion of single payer.
HB 3260 is similar to a measure passed by lawmakers in Vermont several years ago. The feasibility study it authorized was a key step on that state’s path to adopting a modified single-payer health care system.
“We are convinced that publicly managed financing is critical to any health-care plan,” Huntington said. “But to be persuasive for the public and the Legislature, we want to have a study done specifically for Oregon.”
The study, expected to cost between $250,000 and $500,000, would be financed by grants and private donations. Under terms of HB 3260, the Oregon Health Authority would be expected to complete the job and offer its recommendations on health care funding before the 2015 Legislature opens.
Hearings on the measure have been scheduled for early April before the House Health Care Committee, and Dembrow said he’s expecting a strong show of support.
“I’m feeling very, very optimistic,” he said. “There really seems to be a lot of momentum behind this bill.”
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