Oregon Businesses Satisfied With Health Care Status Quo

A war president visits the home front
President Bush offers modest ideas on health-care reform and again makes promises on energy and the deficit
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
http://www.oregonlive.com/editorials/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1138757128296390.xml&coll=7

"But once again, his heart was not in these issues. Look at his health-care ideas: expanding tax breaks for health savings accounts and computerizing medical records. Those modest reforms, mostly aimed at people who already have enough money to pay for a health-care plan and save extra money in the first place. They are no answer to the 45 million Americans who have no health-care insurance.

The overall cost of health care has doubled in the last 12 years and still is rising at four times the rate of inflation. Today there is no graver threat to American business competitiveness than the exploding cost of health care."

And yet, in Oregon, all the evidence from the business community points to maintaining the status quo. Why is that?

Consider the following:
1. More than fifty CEOs of Oregon's largest businesses, many Chambers of Commerce and neighborhood business organizations were contacted and invited to participate in a forum which would discuss how the Oregon Community Health Care Bill would remove the burden from businesses of providing health care and place it on the state of Oregon. Not a single member of Oregon's business community showed even the slightest curiosity about a plan that would directly affect their bottom line.

2. No Oregon business newspaper nor business periodical nor business reporter has written a single word to inform their readers about the Oregon Community Health Care Bill and how it would remove the burden from businesses of providing health care and place it on the state of Oregon.

3. Many of the major players in the Portland business community are spending enormous amounts of their time, money and effort to "save" the city of Portland 1 million dollars from public campaign financing BUT have been silent on the prospect of REDUCING, i.e. "saving" , almost 19 million dollars in health care costs which could be achieved through support of the Oregon Community Health Care Bill. [O.K. Which is the better business decision: A - Save 1 million or B - Save 19 million and support a plan which will remove the burden of health care from your business?]

4. Many of the major players in the Portland business community are spending enormous amounts of their time, money and effort to "save" the fiscally irresponsible Portland School Board by advocating some sort of tax BUT have been silent on the prospect of REDUCING, i.e. "saving" , almost 19 million dollars in health care costs which could be achieved through support of the Oregon Community Health Care Bill. Lead by school board member Dan Ryan, his fellow elected officials all subscribe to Ryan's public statement that school employees "deserved" whatever health care benefits they already received and he had "no intention of limiting any increases." This is known as giving away the store which is NOT usually a practice most business leaders would endorse. [O.K. Which is the better business decision: A - Raise taxes to be handed over to a fiscally irresponsible management or B - Save 19 million and support a plan which will remove the burden of health care from your business?]

5. Many business leaders in Oregon are supporting Ron Saxton and Jason Atkinson for governor. Despite the fact that Atkinson is supported by a well known radio entertainer and Saxton has a considerable campaign war chest, neither of these candidates has a philosophy much less a plan aimed at reducing the grave threat to American business which is the exploding cost of health care. Both Saxton and Atkinson believe that government, any government, should play no role in public or private health care. Those institutions and individuals that cannot afford to give the private health insurance industry its due must rely on charity for their health care needs. Business leaders that give money and endorsements to charity candidates Ron Saxton and Jason Atkinson should be prepared to tell their customers and employees their preference for an outmoded and long abandoned public health care policy. Oregon voters will not elect a governor that holds these archaic troglodyte views.

The business community, like the political community, MUST come to grips with the fact that our federal government and the private health insurance industry has failed to provide affordable health care to Oregonians, Oregon's public institutions and Oregon's businesses. The Oregonian newspaper and all of Oregon's news media need to start asking business leaders around our state the following questions:

1. Does your business agree or disagree that our state government is responsible for solving Oregon's moral and economic health care crisis as evidenced by:
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.

2. Does your business support the Oregon Community Health Care Bill?

3. If your business agrees that our state is in a moral and economic health care crisis which must be solved by our state government and it does not support the Oregon Community Health Care Bill then what solution does it propose?

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/octoberpoll.html
http://www.goodgrowthnw.org/candidates.html