Back From The Dead?
August 27th, 2008
Letters to the Editor • Inbox1 comment
August 27th, 2008
The Score • Taking Your Share and Then Some0 comments
August 27th, 2008
The Party Is in the Lobby | Oregon Democrats descend on Denver looking for change they can believe in—with help from corporate friends.5 comments
August 27th, 2008
Bar Fight | The restaurant lobby butts heads with Portland neighborhoods.0 comments
August 27th, 2008
Skipper’s Castaways | New county sheriff keeps the crew from Giusto’s three-hour tour.0 comments
August 27th, 2008
Murmurs • Hope. Change. Capitalism. Barbed Wire.0 comments
August 27th, 2008
Rogue of the Week • Sue Castner | Serious Party Foul.18 comments
August 27th, 2008
Life and Death in Washington | Call it “death with dignity” or “assisted suicide,” Washington preps for Initiative 1000 — with Oregon’s help. 3 comments
August 27th, 2008
Incorrect Change | A new coin buys anger instead of bus fare.5 comments
August 27th, 2008
Cover Story • Sometimes a Great Lawsuit | Ken Kesey’s last prank pits his widow in a court battle with his best friend and a Playboy model.2 comments
[July 11th, 2007]
Michael Moore's pitch for universal health care in Sicko should give Oregon voters a healthy dose of déjà vu.
In 2002, Health Care for All–Oregon, a grassroots group promoting healthcare reform, put Measure 23 on the ballot to establish a Canadian-style healthcare system in Oregon. The measure called for a new Oregon Health Care Finance Board to take responsibility for insuring state residents with funds generated by higher income and payroll taxes.
But with opponents such as BlueCross BlueShield Oregon outraising supporters by a margin of 10 to 1, voters rejected it like a colonic in the middle of Pioneer Courthouse Square. Nearly four in five Oregonians—79 percent—voted against the plan.
"There was not enough generalized pain to put through a comprehensive plan like this," said Mark Lindgren, chairman of Health Care for All–Oregon.
But with healthcare costs continuing to soar, and even more Americans now uninsured, voters today may be more responsive to universal healthcare proposals, Lindgren says.
"Five years ago, people decided to stay with the devil they knew," Lindgren says. "But now, who knows?"
With his healthcare bill DOA in the Oregon Legislature (see page 31), former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber may try to make his case for a universal healthcare system directly to voters in 2008.
Liz Baxter, director of the Archimedes Movement—an organization formed by Kitzhaber to shape the healthcare policy debate—says a ballot initiative is being considered but no decision has yet been made. —
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