What an Oregon business group gets wrong about single-payer

By Mark Kellenbeck
Portland Business Journal, Sept. 28, 2016

It was with interest that our Health Care for All Oregon membership, 19,000 advocates and 120 organizational members throughout the state of Oregon, read the Guest Opinion in the Sept. 15 issue of the Portland Business Journal by Anthony K. Smith, the state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.

HCAO is particularly committed to expanding our outreach into Oregon businesses of all sizes in order to better understand their needs and concerns about providing their employees’ health care.

We particularly appreciate Mr. Smith’s including a link to NFIB’s website containing the 12 points of further health care reform for which NFIB is lobbying.

There are a number of ideas and opinions contained in Mr. Smith’s piece that HCAO agrees with. At the top of the list is the Affordable Care Act, which HCAO agrees is deeply flawed (we prefer that legislation title to “Obamacare”).

We do not agree, however, with Mr. Smith’s premise that the ACA’s shortcomings are an indictment of single-payer health care. In fact, the ACA’s problems illustrate why single-payer can and will succeed if given a fair chance.

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