“The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, remain neutral.”
Dante Alighieri, 13th Century Italian Poet

"Any candidate for public office in Oregon that tells you that making health care affordable to every Oregonian and reducing the health care costs paid by public institutions in Oregon by 20 percent is NOT the most important issue on the public agenda in Oregon is either ignorant or lying, neither of which are character traits desirable in public officials."
Richard Ellmyer, 21st Century Oregon Political Activist


Below is a sample of a letter recently sent to more than fifty of Oregon's top companies*. Similar letters went to about two dozen Portland metro area chambers of commerce and neighborhood business organizations. A significant number of Oregon's business leaders have now been invited to participate in solving Oregon's moral and economic health care crisis.
[*http://www.oregonlive.com/business/wide/?/business/oregonian/top50.html]

Oregon's business community now joins Oregon public officials - city, county, school board, legislators et. al. -, the leadership of both the Oregon Republican and Democratic political parties, candidates aspiring to public office and the Oregon press corps in their awareness of the Oregon Community Health Care Bill and the invitation to participate and support a health care reform plan that will:
1. Make health care available, portable and affordable to every Oregonian.
2. Take the burden of health care from business and put it on the state where it rightly belongs.
3. Make it possible to reduce the cost of health care by 20 percent to every public institution in the state of Oregon.


All of the above mentioned groups have also been invited to join Richard Ellmyer - Oregon Community Health Care Bill author and project champion, Pete Sorenson - Lane County Commissioner and declared candidate for governor, Jim Robison - former Chair of the Multnomah County Democrats and declared candidate for a House seat and Sam Adams - Portland City Commissioner - et. al. at the Oregon Community Health Care Bill Forum at the Historic Kenton Firehouse in Portland on Saturday October 29, 2005 from 1-3 PM. RSVP richard@goodgrowthnw.org

Although the business community has been the last to be invited to the Oregon health care reform party they are certainly not the least. In fact, of the three major groups involved, the political and press tribes have so far noticeably failed to make any significant progress. Our only hope may turn out to be Oregon's enlightened, responsible and courageous business leaders. We'll see.


Richard Ellmyer
Oregon Community Health Care Bill author and project champion
President, MacSolutions Inc. - A Macintosh computer consulting business providing web hosting for artists and very small businesses.
Writer/Publisher - Oregon Health Watcher commentary - Published on the Internet and distributed to 6000 readers interested in public health care policy in Oregon.

http://www.goodgrowthnw.org/health.html
http://www.goodgrowthnw.org/octoberforum.html



8-25-05

Dear Nike President William Perez:
As the leader of a business headquartered in Oregon you need to know that there is a plan to remove the burden of health care from businesses to the state of Oregon. It’s called the Oregon Community Health Care Bill. I am its author and the project champion. For the next six years, three legislative sessions, I am committing whatever resources I can muster to bring portable and affordable health care to all Oregonians as well as a 20 percent reduction in the costs of health care to every public institution in our state.

The proper role for business in Oregon is to provide goods and services not health care. You can be a good moral corporate citizen and improve your bottom line by supporting the Oregon Community Health Care Bill. It is a win for every Oregonian, every public institution in Oregon and every business in Oregon except the private health insurance industry.

I am offering leadership that comes with thirty years of political activism experience and a six year commitment to succeed where Oregon’s current political leadership has failed. I ask you to join me. This opportunity is unlikely to come across your desk again. 

“The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who, in times of moral crisis, remain neutral.”
Dante Alighieri, 13th Century Italian Poet

"Any candidate for public office in Oregon that tells you that making health care affordable to every Oregonian and reducing the health care costs paid by public institutions in Oregon by 20 percent is NOT the most important issue on the public agenda in Oregon is either ignorant or lying, neither of which are character traits desirable in public officials."
Richard Ellmyer, 21st Century Oregon Political Activist

On October 29, 2005 a small group of sixty, candidates for public office, those who hold public office and voters will gather at the Historic Kenton Firehouse to discuss the future of health care in Oregon. The focus of the forum will be the Oregon Community Health Care Bill. This proposed legislation can provide portable and affordable health care for individual Oregonians as well as a 20 percent reduction in health care costs for all of Oregon's public institutions.

I invite you to personally attend this forum and join Pete Sorenson - Lane County Commissioner and declared candidate for governor, Jim Robison - former Chair of the Multnomah County Democrats and declared candidate for a House seat and Sam Adams - Portland City Commissioner - et. al. in telling the forum why you support the Oregon Community Health Care Bill.

I invite you to get in at the beginning of a six year, three legislative session, campaign to right the moral health care wrong to citizens and stop the arterial bleeding at the treasuries of Oregon's public institutions caused by skyrocketing out of control health care costs.

Please contact me if you would like to meet and discuss your personal and corporate involvement. Join us October 29, 2005 and change the course of Oregon history.


Richard Ellmyer
Oregon Community Health Care Bill author and project champion
President, MacSolutions Inc. - A Macintosh computer consulting business providing web hosting for artists and very small businesses.
Writer/Publisher - Oregon Health Watcher commentary - Published on the Internet and distributed to 6000 readers interested in public health care policy in Oregon.
http://www.goodgrowthnw.org/health.html
http://www.goodgrowthnw.org/octoberforum.html
Historic Kenton Firehouse
2209 N. Schofield  Portland, OR  97217 
503,823-4524



Oregon Community Health Care Bill

Whereas every Oregonian should have the right to affordable health care,
Therefore be it resolved that the following revisions are made to the Oregon Health Plan:

1. The Oregon Health Plan shall allow state, county, regional and municipal governments as well as all public educational institutions in the state of Oregon to pay to enroll their employees.

2. Governments and Public Educational Institutions shall pay 80% of the premium paid in 2004 for an individual covered by their previous health insurance providers times the number of individuals covered for the first year of membership. The individual rate shall be determined by dividing the total amount paid for health insurance in 2004 divided by the number of individuals covered in each public entity in 2004. [Total number of employees times 2.5 shall be an acceptable default if precise numbers are unavailable.] The 80% rate shall continue until such time as a government or public educational institution formally requests an increase or decrease in the rate for that entity. A majority of paying member organizations of the Oregon Health Plan shall agree to the proposed increase or decrease before it can become the effective new rate for the requesting jurisdiction. It shall be the goal, over a period of time, to achieve equity of individual payments among all participating organizations.

3. The Oregon Health Plan shall allow any person who has been a registered voter in Oregon for at least one year to pay to become a member. 18 year olds registering for the first time are automatically accepted. All children 17 and under are automatically qualified provided they are the dependents of at least one adult in the household who is a registered member of the Oregon Health Plan. The cost to join will be determined by a sliding scale based on taxable income and number of dependent children 17 and under. 

4. The Oregon Health Plan shall allow Oregon businesses to enroll their employees provided that each employee submitted for enrollment meets the standards for individual enrollment mentioned in section 3 above.

5. The Oregon Health Plan shall not allow smokers to join. This includes government sponsored as well as individual applicants. However, the Oregon Health Plan shall respond to every Oregonian that asks for help to quit smoking. A special non-member category shall be established to support smokers who want to quit. The cost to participate in this program will be determined by a sliding scale based on taxable income. A limited list of medical procedures intended specifically to enable a patient to stop smoking shall be the only medical procedures available to Oregonians who are smokers, that is those who smoke an average of five or more cigarettes per day. Upon certification by a physician that an individual has successfully quit smoking for one year that person may apply for membership in the Oregon Health Plan. Serious penalties shall be imposed upon those who are untruthful about their smoking habits when making application to the Oregon Health Plan or at any time they are a member.

6. The legislature shall budget for 2006 a payment into the Oregon Health Plan fund of $75,000,000 plus the amount contributed in 2004. An additional $5,000,000 shall be added to this budget item each year until the amount equals the total of all payments made by participating members.

7. The legislature shall transfer into the Oregon Health Plan fund all revenues in excess of the 2% state revenue forecast thereby eliminating the so called Oregon kicker.

8. The Oregon Health Plan shall be the exclusive health plan for a) The governor and every employee in the executive branch of state government under his authority, b) Every employee of the judicial branch of state government c) Every member of the state legislature and all of their staffs.

9. Allowing for procedures specific to male and female anatomies, everyone enrolled shall have exactly the same benefits. No exceptions.

10. Payments by governments and individuals into the Oregon Health Plan shall remain in an Oregon Health Plan account which shall be the source of payments to physicians, hospitals etc. for allowable procedures.

11. Oregon Health Plan financial managers may only invest in low risk financial instruments with a prudent amount of available capital. All investments shall be made only in Oregon.


12. The Oregon Health Plan may be administered by contract with a private business or by a state government agency depending on which is deemed more likely to deliver the most cost effective high quality service to Oregonians.

13. Every two years the number of procedures covered by the Oregon Health Plan shall be reevaluated and shall include more or fewer procedures from the existing list as determined by the amount of money available in the Oregon Health Plan fund to pay for them. It is the goal of the Oregon Health Plan to annually spend on benefits what it annually receives in revenues.

14. Mental health, dental, optometrical, chiropractic and acupuncture shall be included in potential procedures of the Oregon Health Plan especially those of a preventative nature.

15. Every five years the list and rankings of procedures shall be reevaluated.

16. Every listed procedure shall have a capped price. Members may seek medical care from any licensed health care provider in the United States of America. Members who choose health care providers that charge less than the capped price for any procedure shall receive a credit toward their health plan premium valued at the difference. Members choosing health care providers charging more than the capped price must make up the difference themselves. Every bill sent to the Oregon Health Plan for payment must be signed by the member involved in the medical procedure appearing on the invoice before payment can be made.

17. Health care providers licensed by the state of Oregon shall accept Oregon Health Plan patients for approved procedures.

18. Patients that choose to participate shall have the opportunity to critique the care given by their health care providers directly into an online database. 10% of the health care providers with the highest patient satisfaction ratings per year will receive a $10,000 cash incentive bonus. A minimum number of 300 votes or 60% of a health care provider's patients will be required to qualify. 

19. No member of the Oregon Health Plan may sue a health care provider for malpractice of a procedure allowed under the Oregon Health Plan without the express approval of five members of a nine member committee established for the specific purpose of determining the legitimacy or frivolousness of the proposed legal action. That committee shall be comprised of five permanent members serving four year terms namely, two retired judges, two retired physicians and the governor. The remaining four shall be chosen at random from the Oregon legislature each quarter prior to that quarter's meeting.