There is no need to wait until August 2007 to find out if our next legislative assembly will bring affordable health care to Oregonians and Oregon's public institutions. The results are already in. The 2007 legislative assembly will fail.

It will not matter for which legislative or gubernatorial candidate you vote. The overwhelming majority of candidates have NO solutions to resolve Oregon's moral and economic health care crisis and if elected they will continue to support the failed state of the status quo. Voters and journalists are strongly encouraged to contact candidates and midterm senators to verify and discuss their positions. Here are the results of the survey:

Option 1. Supports the Oregon Community Health Care Bill which:
A. Is the most market driven health care plan in America.
B. Removes the burden from businesses of providing health care and places it on the state of Oregon.
C. Reduces health care costs to public institutions in Oregon by 20%.
D. Provides actual health care not just health insurance.
E. Eliminates the term, "preexisting condition." If the procedure is covered you're covered.
F. Provides affordable health care - on a sliding scale according to income - as good as that received by any public employee in Oregon to anyone willing to make a commitment to Oregon for one year as a registered voter.

Jason Brown H23-D
Ben Cannon H46-D

Option 2. Put forth their own legislation or endorse someone else's bill which is competitive with the Oregon Community Health Care Bill. This alternative choice also acknowledges the failure of the federal government and the private health insurance industry to provide affordable health care to Oregonians and Oregon's public institutions. It recognizes the fundamental basis for Oregon's moral and economic health care crisis, namely:
A. Huge numbers of Oregonians have no health insurance.
B. Huge numbers of Oregonians pay for such costly health insurance that they can afford little or no actual health care.
C. All of Oregon's public institutions are facing skyrocketing and unstoppable increases in health care costs which significantly diminish the quality and quantity of services that need to be provided to the public.

NONE


Option 3. No plan. Maintain the status quo - which includes diddling around at the edges of the issue. [These folks are in such denial that they cannot even speak or write the words, "our state is in a moral and economic health care crisis." They have become part of the problem not part of the solution. They all have excellent health care coverage. Most of them have their health insurance paid for by the public treasury. These are the poster children for the campaigns to support Legislative Term Limits and Open Primaries. Vote for both of them.]

Wayne Krieger H1-R
Susan Morgan H2-R
Howard Owens H3-D
Ron Maurer H3-R
Richard Koopmans H4-D
Dennis Richardson H4-R
Peter Buckley H5-D
Mike Moran H6-D
Sal Esquivel H6-R
Bruce Hanna H7-R
Paul Holvey H8-D
Andrew Hill H8-R
Arnie Roblan H9-D
Al Pearn H9-R
Jean Cowan H10-D
Alan Brown H10-R
Phil Barnhart H11-D
Elizabeth Beyer H12-D
Bill Lioio H12-R
Nancy Nathanson H13-D
Thomas Albright H13-R
Chris Edwards H14-D
Debi Farr H14-R
Sam Sappington H15-D
Andy Olson H15-R
Sara Gelser H16-D
Robin Brown H16-R
Dan Thackaberry H17-D
Jeff Kropf H17-R [Withdrew to avoid giving his opponent equal time on his radio show. Kropf shares the Saxton/Atkinson view that charity is the solution to affordable health care. This is a positive development.]
Jim Gilbert H18-D
Mac Sumner H18-R
Brian Grisham H19-D
Kevin Cameron H19-R
Connie Garcia H20-D
Vicki Berger H20-R
Brian Clem H21-D
Billy Dalto H21-R
Betty Komp H22-D
Jason Brown H23-D
Brian Boquist H23-R
Sal Peralta H24-D
Donna Nelson H24-R
Charles Lee H25-D
Kim Thatcher H25-R
Lee Coleman H26-D
Jerry Krummel H26-R
Tobias Read H27-D
Domonic Biggi H27-R
Jeff Barker H28-D
Eldon Derville-Teer H28-R
Chuck Riley H29-D
Terry Rilling H29-R
David Edwards H30-D
Everett Curry H30-R
Brad Witt H31-D
Deborah Boone H32-D
Norm Myers H32-R
Mitch Greenlick H33-D [Cosponsored a deceptive initiative that should have been titled, "Amends Constitution: Requires Increased Profits For the Failed Private Health Insurance Industry." Fortunately, this seriously flawed and misguided proposal failed to make the ballot. If the cosponsors of this bill continue to propose solutions which include the failed private health insurance industry model then those plans will also fail to resolve Oregon's moral and economic health care crisis.]
Mark Eggleston H33-R
Suzanne Bonamici H34-D
Joan Draper H34-R
Shirley Parsons H35-R
Mary Nolan H36-D
Bev Backa H37-D
Scott Bruun H37-R
Greg Macpherson H38-D
Fred Bremner H38-R
Mike Caudle H39-D
Wayne Scott H39-R [His reelection and possible return to "House Majority Leader" status would obviously bode ill for health care reform.]
Dave Hunt H40-D
Carolyn Tomei H41-D
Diane Rosenbaum H42-D
Chip Shields H43-D
Tina Kotek H44-D [Despite Tina's work as a lobbyist she is naive about the legislative process. She lacks the insight and the courage needed to bring affordable health care to her constituents and Oregon's public institutions. She asks to be listed under Option 2 but can produce no plan. Tina Kotek has failed her first political policy challenge and she hasn't yet made it to Salem.]
Jay Kushner H44-R
Jackie Dingfelder H45-D
William Cornett H46-R
Jeff Merkley H47-D [His reelection and possible return to "House Minority Leader" status would obviously bode ill for health care reform. Merkley was unaware of the existance of the Oregon Community Health Care Bill despite receiving many Oregon Health Watcher commentaries for more than a year and a half. He also failed to notice that a candidate from his own party for governor, Pete Sorenson, supported the bill and spoke about it on the campaign trail. Open your eyes, perk up your ears and turn on your radar Jeff.]
Bruce McCain H47-R
Mike Schaufler H48-D
Dave Mowry H48-R
Rob Brading H49-D
Karen Minnis H49-R [Her reelection and possible return to "Speaker of the House" status would obviously bode ill for health care reform.] 
Jill Selman-Ringer H50-D
John Lim H50-R
Ryan Olds H51-D
Linda Flores H51-R
Suzanne VanOrman H52-D
Patti Smith H52-R
Bill Smith H53-D
Gene Whisnant H53-R
Phil Philiben H54-D
Chuck Burley H54-R
George Gilman H55-R
James Calvert H56-D
Bill Garrard H56-R
Tonia St. Germain H57-D
Greg Smith H57-R
Ben Talley H58-D
Bob Jenson H58-R
John Dallum H59-R
Peter Hall H60-D
Tom Butler H60-R
Alan Bates S3-D  [Cosponsored a deceptive initiative that should have been titled, "Amends Constitution: Requires Increased Profits For the Failed Private Health Insurance Industry." Fortunately, this seriously flawed and misguided proposal failed to make the ballot. If the cosponsors of this bill continue to propose solutions which include the failed private health insurance industry model then those plans will also fail to resolve Oregon's moral and economic health care crisis.]
Floyd Prozanski S4-D
Bill Eddie S4-R
Bill Morrisette S6-D
Renee Lindsey S6-R
Vicki Walker S7-D [While Vicki deserves credit for being the only legislator to correctly identify health care as a greater priority than education she still falls short when it comes to a solution.]
Jim Torrey S7-R
Mario Magana S8-D
Frank Morse S8-R
Paul Evans S10-D
Jackie Winters S10-R
Peter Courtney S11-D [His reelection and possible return to "President of the Senate" status would obviously bode ill for health care reform.]
Jared Thatcher S11-R
Rick Ross S13-D
Larry George S13-R
John Napolitano S15-D
Bruce Starr S15-R
Elizabeth Johnson S16-D
Don Fell S16-R
Brad Avakian S17-D
Richard Devlin S19-D
David Newell S19-R
Kurt Schrader S20-D
Thomas Lemons S20-R
Rod Monroe S24-D
T.J. Reilly S24-R
Rick Metsger S26-D
Carol York S26-R
Jeff Kruse Senator 1-R
Jason Atkinson Senator 2-R [Atkinson shares Ron Saxton's advocacy for the draconian far right-wing approach to health care reform, namely, no government involvement but rather strictly voluntary charity contributions to help those Oregonians and Oregon public institutions that cannot afford health care. Atkinson would be right at home in the Texas legislature.]
Joanne Verger Senator 5-D
Roger Beyer Senator 9-R
Gary George Senator 12-R
Ryan Deckert Senator 14-D
Ginny Burdick Senator 18-D [Ginny refused to address how the moral and economic health care crisis has affected Portland city government and its citizens during her recent unsuccessful attempt to leave the senate and Gard & Gerber for a job on the Portland City Council. Her lack of interest in the senate and her unwillingness to take a stand on health care reform is not a good sign.]
Kate Brown Senator 21-D [Her possible return to "Senate Majority Leader" status would obviously bode ill for health care reform.]
Margaret Carter Senator 22-D [Shame on Margaret for continuing to refuse to discuss much less submit the Oregon Community Health Care Bill in the 2005 and 2007 legislative sessions. This needs to be her last session not representing the people in need of affordable health care in her district and mine.]
Avel Gordly Senator 23-D
Laurie Monnes Anderson Senator 25-D
Ben Westlund Senator 27-R [Westlund's bout with cancer has clearly made him more passionate about health care than his would-be rivals for governor. However, even if he succeeds in collecting enough signatures to get on the November ballot he has no chance of becoming governor and no plan to bring affordable health care to Oregonians and Oregon's public jurisdictions when he takes his seat in the Oregon Senate next January. Ben cosponsored a deceptive initiative that should have been titled, "Amends Constitution: Requires Increased Profits For the Failed Private Health Insurance Industry." Fortunately, this seriously flawed and misguided proposal failed to make the ballot. If the cosponsors of this bill continue to propose solutions which include the failed private health insurance industry model then those plans will also fail to resolve Oregon's moral and economic health care crisis.]
David Nelson Senator 29-R
Ted Ferrioli Senator 30-R [His possible return to "Senate Minority Leader" status would obviously bode ill for health care reform.]
Ted Kulongoski - Governor D [Decades of service in government and public office and he still doesn't have a plan to bring affordable health care to Oregonians and Oregon's public institutions.]
Ron Saxton - Governor R [Although he doesn't publicize it, Saxton advocates the draconian far right-wing approach to health care reform, namely, no government involvement but rather strictly voluntary charity contributions to help those Oregonians and Oregon public institutions that cannot afford health care. It's a good bet that not a single contributor to Saxton's campaign, nor anyone in his family, nor any of his business colleagues will ever have to depend on Saxton's solution to bring affordable health care to them. Ron Saxton should be running for governor of Texas not Oregon.]

Despite the overwhelming odds, as the leaders of organized religion, public employee bargaining units, business and voters awaken to an awareness that supporting the Oregon Community Health Care Bill is in their best interests they could persuade some candidates and midterm senators to see that it is also in their best interests and the best interests of their constituents to support the Oregon Community Health Care Bill.


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 17,000 readers interested in public health care policy in Oregon.
http://www.goodgrowthnw.org/health.html