Latest / The Health Care for All Podcast / EP9: Is Oregon on Track to Be First?
Transcript
- Valdez Bravo: so many people, so many different aspects of our communities and our state gain from this issue. So it really is, like you said, nonpartisan. Death and disease do not know your political affiliation. Rebecca Schoon: So Oregon has been described as the state most likely ⁓ to win universal health care. Why do you think Oregon has been described that way and why now? How do you read that? Valdez Bravo: Yeah, I think there's a lot of things going for we're kind of like that Goldilocks state. We're not super big like California, Texas, Florida, but we're not as small as like a Rhode Island or Delaware. We're kind of in the middle. We're the ninth largest geographically, even though there's only about four million folks here in Oregon. But we are kind of, we're a sizable state. So it's like, if we got it done, a good thing for kind of like a lab, an experiment. Maybe that's why, we've been that innovator in the past on health care. ⁓ The other thing is the makeup of our legislature. ⁓ We do have democratic majorities and sometimes super majorities. And it doesn't mean, that they're gonna just like, pass this like right out of the legislature. But it does mean that it will at least get its hearing. It will get its day in court. it'll at least advance and be presented like with Senate Bill 770, like with Senate Bill 1089, like the legislative referral for Measure 111. So we have a friendly legislature ⁓ as well, know, I talking to Dr. Joe Jarvis, who leads health care advocacy efforts in Utah, and they have a different type of legislature, You know, it's gonna rely on, an independent petition kind of ballot effort. The other thing is I would say that because we do have that history of innovating with like medical marijuana and Death with Dignity Act and Governor John Kitzhaber's, and Dr. Ruth Goldberg's very innovative Oregon Health Plan, our Medicaid expansion. So here in Oregon, we call Medicaid the Oregon Health Plan. And so that has been something that has added tremendous opportunity and coverage for folks. over time, iteratively. we had a great presentation for the Oregon Latino Health Coalition at our conference last year just talking about how they went to Cover All Kids. And then that led to Cover All People. And, before the devastating impacts of H.R.1, we were at 97 percent of coverage. Now, that doesn't mean access and it doesn't mean comprehensive access, but it was 97 percent of coverage. And so for that reason, we're you know, being hit even harder than a lot of other states that didn't just go all in on that. But I think that all of those things, Rebecca, speak to our values. I also feel like Oregonians at heart are kind, curious folks follow their hearts, but also believe in science and. And we'll look at the data and seeing those life expectancies in other countries where spending so little and they're gaining so much. I think those things matter to Oregonians. And I just feel like this is a state that's ripe to buck the system and of go our own way, the Oregon way, on this issue. What about you? What Rebecca Schoon: I love that. Valdez Bravo: do you think? Why do you think Oregon is the good place? Rebecca Schoon: a lot of things that you said, you know, some other states like California have a lot of special interests who are really active and blocking it. In fact, I remember HCAO got a donation from a person from California and she wrote on it. I think California is too, ⁓ the grasp of special interest to pull this off, I think Oregon can do it. Go, go, go. And it was just so touching. we're looking at California and we think you can do it too. ⁓ Valdez Bravo: Come on, Michael Lighty Healthy California. Rebecca Schoon: Yes, California, Washington is amazing. New York, tons of great advocates everywhere. but yeah, Oregon has been a leader in health policy reform. When I was doing my doctoral dissertation, I would find all these scholarly articles about innovative health policy and it would say, you know, countries like Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom and the American state of Oregon have implemented X, Y, ⁓ So, Valdez Bravo: God. Rebecca Schoon: ⁓ so we really have been a place that has seen Health as a... critical, important issue. ⁓ politically, we are mixed. You talk about having a, a Democratic majority in the legislature, and that does help us open these conversations, get the data on the table and talk about it. But we at Health Care for All Oregon also like this is a nonpartisan issue. ⁓ we Valdez Bravo: way. Rebecca Schoon: want this to pass because Republican families are suffering from this. Democratic Valdez Bravo: Totally Rebecca Schoon: families are suffering, Independents, Green, People are suffering ⁓ and has, a history of having to negotiate between, environmentalists and the timber industry. ⁓ It's hard. This is hard work. Valdez Bravo: Right? Right? Rebecca Schoon: But I think there's really great precedent for us coming together do the thing that benefits Oregonians and hopefully Valdez Bravo: Yeah, I just think, yeah, Rebecca Schoon: beyond. ⁓ Valdez Bravo: I just see the intersectionality of, like you said, know, they used to, back in the day, used to pit like timber versus environmental. It's like, know, there are some commonalities there, but special interests definitely like to drive those wedges. But like, if you're passionate about education, I had a friend, she said she didn't vote for Measure 111, she told me this after the fact, because she didn't want to mandate health care because then it would maybe de-prioritize spending on education. But how is it a child to thrive in school if they're sick? What if the family is bankrupt and, unable to make their bills because of medical debt? And then not even to mention the fact that because school systems are paying this much for their health care coverage, so much money is getting sucked out of the system that should be going to teachers, to facilities, to programs, to the arts ⁓ that are going to health care premiums for the teachers, which we want them to have fantastic health care, but we don't need to pay 20%, maybe pay 10%. And then on top of that, our union friends, the labor movement. If you're at the bargaining table, oftentimes they'll say, all right, well, got the latest numbers in from the Health Insurance Plan. So if you want to keep your Plan, the cost went this much. So what are you going to give up? Is it pay or people? We're going to have to make some cuts. so many people, so many different aspects of our communities and our state gain from this issue. So it really is, like you said, nonpartisan. Death and disease do not know your political affiliation. Rebecca Schoon: Right. And this is a terrible reason why now is a really ripe moment, but the health care crisis is everywhere. my partner just looked at his health insurance premium. It was six hundred dollars a month or so last year for his business. It just went up to twelve hundred dollars a month per person. So Valdez Bravo: Wow. ⁓ Rebecca Schoon: families are taking the hit right now. ⁓ And this is the worse news, but I also think it helps people realize if they were doing okay, if they did like their insurance, they can't help but see the crisis that's hitting their neighbors and often themselves too. Valdez Bravo: Yeah. Front page of The Lund Report today, and I encourage folks that are interested in health policy news to check out The Lund Report. It's Oregon health policy news. Yeah, that was the exact story. Like, $1,800. Premiums going up 1,800 bucks in this past year or so. Nobody can afford that. One in four people are just choosing not to have health care at all. They're just rolling the dice. Rebecca Schoon: My hair stylist. She was just telling me that with the rise in premiums, she's like, all right, well, we're now looking at how do we make sure our kids have health care, but my husband and I are going to go without insurance. broke my heart. It's what people are facing today. And we believe, no one should have to make the choice between paying their rent and having access to health care.