JUNE 2007: FROM THE EDITOR
When business and
politics mix
Two news announcements hit my desk as we were finishing up this
issue’s special report assessing the future of health
care.
It’s been hard to feel optimistic about that future. You
only have to look at the continued spiraling cost of health
insurance to think progress is remote. Last fall when we delved
into health-care reform in September’s cover story on
John Kitzhaber’s Archimedes Movement, I railed here about
politicians lacking the will to solve the crisis of cost and 47
million uninsured Americans, and challenged business
leaders to get us out of the mess. Has much changed since
then?
Our special report this month, finds hope in some
corners. There’s cancer wunderkind Dr. Brian Druker
wanting nothing less than to find the cure for cancer;
community colleges valiantly working to fill the gap for
skilled health-care workers; and while it doesn’t enjoy
complete support, Senate Bill 329 has at least brought
discussion of health-care reform to Salem.
Back to those two news announcements and that question of how
much has changed.
The news came from the office of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden,
announcing that Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) along with U.S. Reps.
Brian Baird (D-Wash.) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) were joining
forces on Wyden’s Healthy Americans Act, which guarantees
universal, private health insurance for everyone.
Then just days later, Wyden, a Democrat, announced that this
bipartisan coalition was being joined by the CEOs of several of
the nation’s biggest companies, including Safeway,
Medtronic, Cigna, General Mills and Aetna, which had formed a
new Coalition to Advance Health-Care Reform. It was a rare show
of solidarity among liberals and conservatives, government and
business.
I called Wyden a few days later, catching him as he took a
break from the Senate floor. He was enthusiastic and hopeful
about the chance for health-care reform. Why now, when even
just last fall it seemed like reformers were tilting at
windmills?
“In 1994, CEOs said we can’t afford to fix
health care,” Wyden said. “Now they are saying we
can’t afford not to fix health care.”
Wyden’s proposal would guarantee private health coverage
and benefits equal to those of members of Congress. It would
get business out of the business of providing health-care
insurance by having employers “cash out” their
workers, and those workers then buying their own private
insurance. Subsidies would be available to those at lower
income levels.
Wyden said he’s talked often to the various health-care
reformers here in Oregon and has high-profile CEOs such as
Robert Beal of Oregon Iron Works and Mark Ganz of The Regence
Group in his camp. He gave credit to the local efforts, such as
Senate Bill 329, but said the states cannot fix this on their
own.
“States can set a template, set value judgments, but it
needs to be in line with federal policy. I think to the extent
a state can determine how much money people are spending in
state dollars and how you can involve people in making
judgments about benefits, it’s time well spent.
“But the states cannot fix problems they didn’t
cause.”
His biggest concern now is keeping the momentum going for
reform.
“We’re going to race against the clock,”
said Wyden, “because 2008 will consumed by the
presidential race.” Wyden and the bill’s supporters
plan to pull out all the stops to get something done this year,
or any reform will wait until 2009. His bill currently is
pending in the Senate Finance Committee.
This summer, unlike last fall, there are politicians and
business leaders — at the state and local level, from
both sides of the political aisle — who have stepped up.
Let’s hope we don’t wait two more years for real
progress to happen.
— Robin
Doussard
editor@oregonbusiness.com
