Everybody In! Nobody Out!
News, Events, and Actions
Universal Health Care Update
Work Session Coming Soon
Record Setting Testimony Supports
SB 704
Universal Health Care is Moving Forward

  • You were heard. During the SB 704 Public Hearings held on Monday, February 13th and 15th, more than 50 people signed up to testify. On the 15th, Chair Patterson announced that 28 people were ready to testify in support and none opposed.

Listen to 2/13 testimony—starts at beginning.
Listen to 2/15 testimony—starts at 40:39.

Here are a few of the over 300 testimonials that speak to the imperative of transformation.

  • “The denial of healthcare by the insurance industry is so common that I am quite familiar with the months-long battles sometimes required to obtain access to necessary care or medication.” –Kay Firor of Cove, OR.

  • “I am a retired nurse practitioner and a Medicare recipient, and I strongly support SB 704,” submits Susan Aronson of Corvallis. “I am covered by Traditional Medicare and am finding it harder and harder to find medical providers who will accept this coverage due to the privatization of Medicare by for-profit organizations like Medicare Advantage Plans and other private entities. This expensive and fragmented care only drives up costs."

  • Rachel Jordan of Eugene writes: “A neighbor of mine had cancer surgery and needed follow-up chemotherapy. Neither he nor his wife were employed at the time and did not have health insurance . . . When chemo was critical, he went without treatment. There is something very wrong with a system where money determines who receives healthcare and who goes without.”

  • Paxton Rothwell writes: "For the past two years I have been working through a career transition. It is an extremely daunting process that’s made even worse because healthcare is tied to steady employment. After I left my job in engineering, I suddenly found myself without any health, dental, or vision insurance... Read the testimony.  

What's Next?
  • Several Work Sessions in the Senate Committee on Health Care have needed to be rescheduled as amendments are drafted.
  • Hold tight as it is coming. Get the latest from the legislature by following the bill. Go here then click on e-subscribe toward upper right.
You Won't Want to Miss This!
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The Performers
Opportunities for Learning and Participating
Stop Medicare Privatization Forum

Union members, veterans and healthcare reformers around the country are demanding that the Biden Administration stop its privatization of traditional Medicare and the VA hospital system. Come to learn the steps to fight back.
Medicare for All
Virtual Strategy Conference
April 17-23
Registration Coming Soon

This annual gathering is a chance for activists and organizers fighting for Medicare for All across the country to come together, strategize, learn from each other, and build community for the fight ahead!
This year's conference, "Everybody In: Racial Equity & Medicare for All" will be focused on centering race in our conversations about healthcare and building the multi-racial healthcare justice movement we need to win Medicare for All.
HCAO Annual Membership Mtg
&
Conference
We are back in person with the Annual Membership Meeting and Conference. Voting members will elect or re-elect members to the HCAO Board. Plus, we are excited to announce a dynamic conference with interactive panels covering the latest essentials of universal healthcare education and advocacy. Information and registration coming soon.
Why We Exist
Court Rules Denial of HIV Prevention Drugs OK, experts challenge

From Yale Law School: "A new report from a team of medical, public health, and legal experts challenges a federal court decision ruling it unconstitutional to mandate employer-sponsored insurance coverage of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), a highly effective biomedical measure for preventing HIV. The decision, the authors show, fails to address the scientific evidence, slights the compelling public interest in HIV prevention, engages in invidious stereotyping of LGBTQ people, and creates a loophole by which employers could deny insurance coverage for nearly any medical condition for any group whose conduct is disfavored by a religious belief."
Medical Tourism and Tragedy

Four people were abducted and two are now dead. This report from CNN speaks to the tragedy and failures of US healthcare. "'People travel because there may be a long waiting time, wait lists or other reasons why they can’t get treatment as quickly as they would like it. So they explore their options outside the United States to see what’s available,' said Elizabeth Ziemba, president of Medical Tourism Training.... Also, 'price is a big issue in the United States. We know that the US health care system is incredibly expensive even for people with insurance, there may be high deductibles or out-of-pocket costs that are not covered by insurance.'" Read more.
Claims submitted and denied

From Kaiser Family Foundation: "Of the 230 major medical issuers in HealthCare.gov states that reported for the 2021 plan year, 162 reported receiving at least 1,000 in-network claims and show data on claims received and denied. Together these issuers reported 291.6 million in-network claims received, of which 48.3 million were denied, for an average in-network claims denial rate of 16.6%." Read the report.

We battle on! Why? Because transformation of healthcare is both necessary and possible.
New HCAO Member Highlight
The Oregon Food Bank
We are thrilled to announce that the Oregon Food Bank is now an HCAO Member Organization. The intersectionality of issues related to the basic need for food, housing, and healthcare are well known. A Oregon Food Bank message: "we connect people with food today and build community power to end hunger at its roots, eliminating barriers to employment, affordable housing, healthcare and more."
Oregon Food Bank's work matches with HCAO's mission to "improve the lives of individuals, families and communities". Read more about the Oregon Food Bank including information about getting needed food and advocacy efforts.
In the Meantime
Continue to contact your reps . Tell your story over and over and how important universal healthcare is to you. Deliver a clear message that "now is the time to transform healthcare by advancing the recommendation of the Joint Task Force on Universal Health Care to establish and fully fund the Universal Health Care Plan Governance Board. This is the path to meeting Oregon's constitutional obligation to achieve health equity and affordability.

  • To find your current legislators go here and put in your address.

Your voice will be critical as the legislature decides how to fulfill Oregon's constitutional mandate that access to healthcare is a right.
Your Financial Support Is Needed
The work to educate about and advocate for universal healthcare is possible ONLY because of YOU.
For further information and questions, contact Linda Alband (operations@hcao.org).
Please become a member, make an additional contribution, or volunteer.
Everybody in! Nobody out!