Universal Health Care: How Oregon Will Pay For It
In 2019, the Oregon Legislative Assembly passed Senate Bill 770, which established the Task Force on Universal Health Care. The Task Force was charged with recommending a publicly funded universal health care system that offers equitable, affordable, comprehensive, high quality, publicly funded health care to all Oregon residents.
Senate Bill 770 directed the Task Force to engage the public to solicit input from people throughout Oregon, including individuals in rural and underserved communities. The Task Force also asked for feedback from the health care industry, employers, and unions. With support from professional facilitators, the Task Force held virtual roundtables, community listening sessions, and forums from February through July of 2022.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed Senate Bill 1089 in 2023 to set up a new nine-member Universal Health Plan Governance Board tasked with designing the nation’s first state based single payer system, but expressed concern that money will be wasted by the board without achieving its goal, namely to deliver a plan to lawmakers by September 2026.
{Cohort Oregon} 2024-CT-OR-101