Oregon Health Care Advocates Praise Children's Health Care Bill

OSPIRG joins nurses, families and health care advocates urging passage of the Healthy Kids Plan.

Photo: Tim King

(SALEM) - With Oregonians facing sharply rising health insurance costs, Oregon State Public Interest Research Group joined with nurses and other health care advocates Monday to applaud a bill aimed at making children’s health coverage affordable for all Oregon families.

“Gov. Kulongoski, Senator Monnes Anderson and Representative Greenlick are doing the right thing by advancing this smart plan for Oregon’s children,” said Laura Etherton, OSPIRG consumer advocate.

The plan comes in response to the fact that nearly 118,000 Oregon children go without health insurance.

Over 90% of uninsured children come from families in which at least one parent works, but steeply rising insurance costs put coverage out of reach.

“Children without health insurance are more likely to end up in the emergency room. It’s terrible for them, and it actually ends up driving costs up for everyone,” says Etherton.

The bill creates the Oregon Healthy Kids Program, which would give every child access to quality affordable health care by securing new federal funds for the Oregon Health Plan, as well as by pooling purchasing power to negotiate an affordable, accountable private children’s insurance plan available on a sliding scale to Oregon families.

“It simply makes sense to give children guaranteed access to checkups, preventative care and other treatment,” said Etherton, Oregon can create the healthiest and strongest generation of children ever, and the Healthy Kids Plan is the right place to start.”

The Oregon Legislature is considering The Healthy Kids Plan to make children’s health care affordable for all Oregon families.

This week, Committee Chairs Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson and Representative Mitch Greenlick are holding joint house and senate hearings on the plan.