This election season, Oregon voters will decide if health care is a right that should be added to the state’s Constitution.
After years of attempts to get the measure on the ballot, lawmakers passed Senate Joint Resolution 12, also known as the Hope Amendment, in May last year. The resolution proposes amending the Oregon Constitution by establishing an obligation of the state to ensure every resident access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care.
If voters pass Measure 111, it would be up to the Legislature to determine how to fulfill this obligation. The measure does not have any funding built into it.
Most Oregonians, about 94%, have health insurance, according to a 2019 report from the Oregon Health Authority. In 2019, 49.3% of Oregonians had private group health insurance, 25.4% had Medicaid through the Oregon Health Plan, 15.2% had Medicare, and 4% had individual private insurance, leaving about 6%, 248,000 people, uninsured.
The resolution first passed the Senate and then the House mostly along party lines with 25 sponsors, including local representatives Sen. James I. Manning Jr., a Democrat who represents North Eugene, West Eugene, and Veneta as well as Rep. Marty Wilde, a Democrat who represents Central Lane and Linn counties. Other supporters include the Oregon Nurses Association, other labor unions, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, Oregon Recovers, and the Oregon Food Bank.
The resolution adds that the state’s new obligation would have to be balanced against existing obligations including “funding public schools and other essential public services,” and any remedy arising from an action brought against the state, such as a lawsuit, to enforce the resolution “may not interfere with the balance.”
Those who oppose the measure are concerned establishing the right before setting up the mechanism for insuring those uncovered could set up the state for inaction on the new obligation or leave the state vulnerable to lawsuits when it fails to cover the gap.
“The criticism I’ve heard most recently is the legislature won’t act on it, and therefore there will be litigation requiring the state to do something,” Rep. Wilde said in an interview with The Register-Guard. “The response to that is: Indeed, the Legislature is better at not doing things than it is at doing things, but if what it takes is a lawsuit against the state to force the state to step up to its responsibilities, I think that’s a path.”
Last year, Lorey Freeman, an attorney with the office of legislative counsel, told the House Health Care Committee that while the amendment could set up residents to sue the state if it fails to fulfill its obligation, the provision about balancing obligations would likely protect the state.
Residents wouldn’t feel the impact of the measure right away, Democratic Portland and Beaverton Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward told The Register-Guard. She’s one of the resolution’s two chief sponsors. Steiner Hayward said establishing the constitutional right would force lawmakers to legislate with a “slightly different lens,” shaping future policies around the idea that all Oregonians are entitled to health care. She added that not all those who have health insurance have cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care.
“I don’t think we’re going to see an instant change. But I think that Oregon has for over 30 years been really clear … that we believe health is integral and that every Oregonian should have access to health care,” Steiner Hayward said. “This is basically just reinforcing that.”
Follow Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick on Twitter @TatianaSophiaPT. Email Tatiana@registerguard.com.
Measure 111 forum
The City Club of Eugene will host a forum on Ballot Measure 111 from noon to 1:15 p.m. Friday. Two medical doctors, a community leader from a healthcare advocacy group and a state representative active on the House Committee for Healthcare will describe their positions on the measure. More information available at: https://cityclubofeugene.org/forum/measure-111-should-affordable-health-care-be-a-constitutional-right/
