Pfister-Minogue

The “Our view”editorial on July 10 voiced the benefits and concerns related to the proposed single-payer health care system in Oregon established by Senate Bill 1089. Change is complex; however, the cost of our current for-profit health care system is unacceptable and unsustainable.

The assumptions posed in the editorial do not recognize why our current health care system costs so much. Americans pay twice as much per person than 12 other wealthy countries. People in other industrialized nations that have a system to cover all their people have higher life expectancy and better overall health outcomes.

I am not opposed to private enterprise, but the current corporately controlled insurance, hospital and pharmaceutical companies are at the crux of the problem. CEO’s have multimillion-dollar compensation packages and stockholders share outrageous profits.

Recently, an article in the Lever reported that Humana alone made $2.8 billion in 2022. They paid $448 million to stockholders, and they compensated their CEO $27 million. In 2022, insurance companies made a combined $69 billion in profits. Imagine if that money went to direct patient care as opposed to bloated salaries and burdensome administrative costs. Health care is not a commodity to be traded like widgets on the stock exchange. Indeed, in Oregon, the people have declared health care as a fundamental human right embedded in our Constitution.

As a nurse, I see Senate bill 1089 as a solution to our health care crisis. It is not vague as the editorial board asserts. It builds on the work of the Task Force on Universal Health Care, which, after two years of study of a potential single-payer system in Oregon recommended the passage of SB 1089. The Task Force held a series of public hearings to determine what Oregonians wanted in a new health care system. Their findings demonstrated that, without increasing overall costs to the system, we could provide comprehensive health benefits to all Oregonians, without deductibles or copays.

What the plan is and how much it may cost individuals and businesses is up to this governance board to determine. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average family premium in Oregon now borders on $20,000 per year. I am confident Oregonians can create a system that can deliver care to more people at a significantly lower cost. Oregon workers and businesses would no longer be in the health insurance business, but contribute in an equitable fashion to a system that covers all of us.

Our current system is costly and inefficient and because of it people who are insured and those who are uninsured suffer needlessly. There is a local businessman who lost his home when his insurance changed at a time when his wife had an urgent surgery. In addition, he also needed an essential medication that was $4,000 a month and had to go without. Oregon can do better.

There are people who do not receive basic care because of high deductibles and copays. A universal system would eliminate copays and deductibles and increase health outcomes for our citizenry. Why should a businesswoman develop a bleeding problem resulting in a $9,000 Emergency Room bill while still paying her $7,000 deductible? This is not the sign of a system designed for health. We shouldn’t have to hear stories like these or about the woman whose husband died after avoiding an expensive, urgent ER visit. The No. 1 cause of personal bankruptcy in our state is due to medical debt because people can’t pay their medical bills. Many delay care and when untreated for hypertension, diabetes or heart disease, they suffer the physical, mental and financial consequences.

We can do better in Oregon, and Senate Bill 1089 is the path to get us there.