Health Care Is A Right NOT A Privilege
Health Insurance is NOT Health Care
Every Oregonian Deserves Equal Access To The Same Level Of Health Care
2005
Press, CLF, Candidates Talk About Oregon Community Health Care Bill 12/12/05
As your organization, group or family discuss the Oregon Community Health Care Bill keep this in mind. There is no such thing as a preexisting condition. If the procedure is covered you're covered.
"It Ain't Broke So Don't Fix It" Say Most Oregon Officials About Health Care 10/10/05
The following question was asked to about 1500 elected officials in Oregon including school board members, city councilors, county commissioners, legislators etc. An astounding 98% indicated that they DISAGREED that the following assertions were problems that needed to be addressed.
Solving Oregon's Health Care Problems - Who Is Responsible? 9/27/05
On September 22, 2005 I spent about an hour of cordial, intense sometimes spirited conversation with Portland's mayor, Tom Potter, focusing on public health care policy. I also had an email exchange on the same subject with an official connected to the Republican party of Clackamas county in which he chose to play the role of an attack dog talk radio host. Each of these discussions was instructive in its own way. Taken together, three dramatically dissimilar viewpoints on public health care policy emerge.
What's The Role of Oregon's Press In Health Care Reform? 9/12/05
So the critical question arises, does Bob Caldwell and his peers and colleagues in the Oregon press corps have a MORAL and CIVIC DUTY to tell their readers, listeners and viewers about the Oregon Community Health Care Bill so that their audiences become informed citizens and voters who can knowledgeably engage in a public debate as well as question and challenge any public official or candidate running for public office in Oregon with regard to his or her support for affordable health care for both individuals and public institutions in our state?
Oregon Businesses Invited To Be Players In Health Care Game 9/6/05
Below is a sample of a letter recently sent to more than fifty of Oregon's top companies*. Similar letters went to about two dozen Portland metro area chambers of commerce and neighborhood business organizations. A significant number of Oregon's business leaders have now been invited to participate in solving Oregon's moral and economic health care crisis.
Public Employee Benefits Skyrocket - Citizen's Benefits Plummet 7/12/05
The Oregonian's recent prominent headlines reported that public employees who are cops, firefighters and teachers were taking far more than their share of the public purse to the detriment of those who pay their salaries. Over the next four years the Portland City Council and the Portland Public Schools Board are poised to authorize the expenditure of about $50,000,000 in INCREASED health care costs. That means $50,000,000 less on kids' educations and city services. To a lesser yet still significant degree, this deplorable and unsustainable situation can be found throughout Oregon. It has got to stop.
October 29, 2005 - Oregon Community Health Care Bill Forum 7/6/05
The war to win affordable health care for every Oregonian and reduce the cost of health care to every public institution in Oregon by twenty percent begins in ernest on October 29, 2005 from 1-3 PM at the Historic Kenton Firehouse in Portland*. On that day sixty Oregonians will gather to participate in the Oregon Community Health Care Bill Forum. You might be one of them.
School Boards Influence Health Care Costs For All Oregonians 4/11/05
There can be no affordable health care for all Oregonians nor can the skyrocketing and uncontainable health care costs for Oregon's public institutions be brought under control until a significant majority of public employees in Oregon, especially paid elected officials, share a common health care policy within a single insurance pool which is also open to public participation. This can be accomplished by the Oregon Community Health Care Bill.
First Public Health - Then Public Education 2/28/05
My wife and I met in 1969 while teaching at East Orange High School. We moved to Oregon in 1971. Since that time we have voted for every bond, levy and tax increase that involved schools, libraries, parks, etc. However, that decades old pattern is about to change dramatically. Personal necessity has brought affordable health care to the top of our list of priorities. We will no longer vote to maintain or increase any levy, bond or tax for any public entity which does not fully support the Oregon Community Health Care Bill* or a similar bill which provides affordable health care for all Oregonians and can reduce government/public education health care costs by twenty percent.
To Oregon's Republican Legislative Leadership 2-18-05
The Oregon Community Health Care Bill* is not a Republican nor Democrat bill. It is neither urban, nor suburban, nor rural. Unlike all the other so-called health care bills submitted this session which are all merely partisan tinkering around the edges, the Oregon Community Health Care Bill* provides a solution which directly addresses the need to provide affordable health care to all Oregonians.
To Oregon's Democratic Legislative Leadership 2-17-05
For the record, this letter is a personal appeal to each and every one of you to introduce the Oregon Community Health Care Bill* before February 27th. And for those of you serving in the senate an additional commitment to bring it up in committee for discussion and eventually a floor vote.
Constituent Respect - Democrat Beliefs 1-28-05
Senator Carter, Representative Hansen:
You are my representatives in the Oregon legislature. It is not clear to me why neither of you have submitted legislation written by me entitled, Oregon Community Health Care Bill*. If you were afraid of taking personal responsibility for legislation that could bring affordable health care to all Oregonians then you could have easily avoided that "onerous liability" by submitting a "personal" or "constituent" bill by adding "this bill submitted at the request of Richard Ellmyer."
I've Armed You For The Debate - Now It's Your Turn 1-18-05
Questions you need to ask everyone you engage in conversation or debate on the matter of making health care affordable to all Oregonians are these:
Do you have health insurance?
Do I pay for a part of your health insurance with my property or income taxes?
Am I excluded from your insurance pool of participants?
Do you believe that every Oregonian should have the right to affordable health care?
If yes, then what have you done to support the Oregon Community Health Care Bill*?
No Bill = No Debate = No Solution 1/3/05
We, Oregonians, can not solve the problem of providing affordable health care to all Oregonians until we stop being subservient to the demands of the health insurance lobbyists.