The city of Portland has no business being in the business of providing health care to anyone but its employees, and the sustainability of that contribution of up to $1,246/month needs to be reevaluated.

There is only one health care decision that the Portland city council should and MUST address.
1. Does it instruct the city’s Salem lobbyist to:
A. Support the Oregon Community Health Care Bill? (Which involves no new taxes, will reduce public institutional expenditures for health insurance by 20% and provides equality of health care for public employees and citizens.)

B. Support Senate Bill 329? (Which, according to Representative Mitch Greenlick, will cost an additional Billion dollars in taxes and relies on the failed private health insurance industry model assuring continued unsustainable escalation of public institutional health insurance contributions.)

C. Do nothing. Support the status quo?

Here’s a letter to consider.
March 12, 2007

Dear House Speaker Merkley and Senate President Courtney:
The current legislative debate over health care reform in our state does not include our view that the profit oriented private health insurance industry must not be the model upon which a solution to Oregon’s moral and economic health care crisis should be based and that Oregon elected officials – public employees – voters and taxpayers must have equal access to the same level of health care not a perpetuation of our current multitiered health insurance class system.

We request that you find a place holder bill in each chamber which would substitute in its entirety the language of the Oregon Community Health Care Bill (see attached) so that an alternative choice may be discussed and debated this session. The Oregon Community Health Care Bill is the only current fully formed piece of proposed legislation which supports our vision of health care reform. We would welcome others that also meet our requirements.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Richard Ellmyer – Oregon Community Health Care Bill author
Sam Adams – Portland City Council
Jeff Cogen – Multnomah County Commissioner
Edwars "Chip" Enbody – Hubbard City Council
Darrell Flood – Mayor of Lafayette
Bill Hall – Lincoln County Commissioner
Jim Needham – Mollala City Council
Michelle Ripple – Wilsonville City Council
Mary Schamehorn – Mayor of Bandon
Pete Sorenson – Lane County Commissioner

Neither the leadership nor any member of the Oregon legislature was willing to acknowledge or consider much less implement the modest proposal of ideas of this request by elected officials representing about a million Oregonians.

Commissioner Sam Adams asked representative Tina Kotek and state senator Margaret Carter to submit the Oregon Community Health Care Bill in the 2007 legislative session. They both refused.

Mayor-elect Sam Adams needs to request every Oregon legislative candidate representing a Portland constituency to campaign for and then if elected introduce and support the Oregon Community Health Care Bill.

Mayor-elect Sam Adams needs to focus on a state legislative solution to Oregon’s moral and economic health care crisis and stop being diverted by requests for narrow special interest and special constituency attention.

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 (http://www.goodgrowthnw.org/health.html) and distributed to thousands of readers interested in public health care policy in Oregon. To Subscribe: HAP-Watchers-on@goodgrowthnw.org