By: Oregon Single Payer Committee
http://www.thelundreport.org/resource/new_coalition_to_advocate_for_universal_healthcare_in_oregon
February 6, 2012 -- Delegates from 28 unions, nonprofits and grassroots
organizations gathered in Portland on Friday, January 27, to form a new
coalition that will advocate for universal health care in Oregon and the U.S.
Seven labor unions joined with 21 community organizations to sign the membership
agreement, approve bylaws, and elect an interim executive committee.
The coalition grew out of a partnership between four organizations–Health
Care for All–Oregon, Portland Jobs With Justice, Mad As Hell Doctors (MAHD) and
Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). Two years ago these
organizations formed the Oregon Single Payer Campaign (OSPC), which last year
organized a conference at the First Unitarian Church in Portland attended by 500
people. OSPC also spearheaded the introduction of HB 3510 last year in the
Oregon legislature by Rep. Michael Dembrow (D-HD 45). HB 3510 would create a
single-payer financing system that guaranteed universal access to health care
for all Oregonians, including the more than 600,000 Oregonians who do not have
health insurance. Rep. Dembrow was in attendance at the
founding meeting of the coalition.
The goal of OSPC was to get the issue of universal access health care on the
table, since its advocates had been shut out of the federal health care reform
debate,” said Michael Moore, delegate from Sisters of the Road and newly elected
interim president of the coalition. “The goal of the new coalition is to engage
all communities across Oregon in a conversation about what we can and should
expect from our health care system. We think providing universal access, as
almost all other industrialized nations do, is the only truly humane and
cost-effective system available. We need a broad and diverse coalition of
organizations to help us understand how to take that message to all the
constituencies we need to reach
Oregon's current health care system is neither humane nor cost-effective. The
only health care resources available to many uninsured adults are hospital
emergency rooms and pay-for-service options at some clinics. Even in communities
such as Scappoose, only 21 miles from Portland, the Oregon Health Sciences
University clinic does not accept uninsured patients. In Oregon, it is estimated
that the cost of uncompensated care for uninsured and under-insured adults and
children will exceed $1.1 billion in 2012.
Rosalie Pedroza, delegate from the Rural Organizing Project, said, “In rural
communities, many areas don¹t have insurance options, and facilities are
limited. Current cost increases are unsustainable; we need affordable health
care for all.”
The unions signing on to the coalition's founding are: American Federation of
Government Employees Local 2157, Communication Workers of America Local 7901,
Laborers Local 483, National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 82, National
Association of Social Workers Oregon, Oregon Nurses' Association and
Service Employees International Union Local 49. The nonprofits joining them are:
Alliance for Democracy, Center for Inter-cultural Organizing, Community
Alliance of Tenants, Elders in Action, Fellowship of Reconciliation,
Health
http://www.thelundreport.org/resource/new_coalition_to_advocate_for_universal_healthcare_in_oregon
February 6, 2012 -- Delegates from 28 unions, nonprofits and grassroots
organizations gathered in Portland on Friday, January 27, to form a new
coalition that will advocate for universal health care in Oregon and the U.S.
Seven labor unions joined with 21 community organizations to sign the membership
agreement, approve bylaws, and elect an interim executive committee.
The coalition grew out of a partnership between four organizations–Health
Care for All–Oregon, Portland Jobs With Justice, Mad As Hell Doctors (MAHD) and
Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). Two years ago these
organizations formed the Oregon Single Payer Campaign (OSPC), which last year
organized a conference at the First Unitarian Church in Portland attended by 500
people. OSPC also spearheaded the introduction of HB 3510 last year in the
Oregon legislature by Rep. Michael Dembrow (D-HD 45). HB 3510 would create a
single-payer financing system that guaranteed universal access to health care
for all Oregonians, including the more than 600,000 Oregonians who do not have
health insurance. Rep. Dembrow was in attendance at the
founding meeting of the coalition.
The goal of OSPC was to get the issue of universal access health care on the
table, since its advocates had been shut out of the federal health care reform
debate,” said Michael Moore, delegate from Sisters of the Road and newly elected
interim president of the coalition. “The goal of the new coalition is to engage
all communities across Oregon in a conversation about what we can and should
expect from our health care system. We think providing universal access, as
almost all other industrialized nations do, is the only truly humane and
cost-effective system available. We need a broad and diverse coalition of
organizations to help us understand how to take that message to all the
constituencies we need to reach
Oregon's current health care system is neither humane nor cost-effective. The
only health care resources available to many uninsured adults are hospital
emergency rooms and pay-for-service options at some clinics. Even in communities
such as Scappoose, only 21 miles from Portland, the Oregon Health Sciences
University clinic does not accept uninsured patients. In Oregon, it is estimated
that the cost of uncompensated care for uninsured and under-insured adults and
children will exceed $1.1 billion in 2012.
Rosalie Pedroza, delegate from the Rural Organizing Project, said, “In rural
communities, many areas don¹t have insurance options, and facilities are
limited. Current cost increases are unsustainable; we need affordable health
care for all.”
The unions signing on to the coalition's founding are: American Federation of
Government Employees Local 2157, Communication Workers of America Local 7901,
Laborers Local 483, National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 82, National
Association of Social Workers Oregon, Oregon Nurses' Association and
Service Employees International Union Local 49. The nonprofits joining them are:
Alliance for Democracy, Center for Inter-cultural Organizing, Community
Alliance of Tenants, Elders in Action, Fellowship of Reconciliation,
Health
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