Voters in Oregon Pass a Measure Making Healthcare A Right (Measure 111)

Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, who carried the bill in the Senate, said […] that Measure 111 does not set Oregon up for a single-payer system.

The language of the measure states: “It is the obligation of the state to ensure that every resident of Oregon has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right.”

But Measure 111 does not spell out what the state must do to meet its new constitutional obligation, or define what access to affordable health care means. It will be up to the Legislature to shape what health care access for all looks like and how to pay for it.

“It does not implement any new taxes, it does not say how we’re supposed to do this. It just says this is a value,” she said

The Right to Health Care PAC brought in just under $100,000.

The measure also wasn’t a top priority for state Democrats

A constitutional right to health care was the lifelong project of Mitch Greenlick, who served in the state legislature and tried at least eight times in 16 years to send a proposal for it to the voters. Greenlick died in 2020, and his Democratic colleagues in the legislature referred the measure to voters in honor of his work.

  • @CountryBreakfast
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    61 year ago

    It does nothing but virtue signal health as a right. They specifically wrote it to avoid challenging insurance, raising taxes, or to make a single payer system. Best case scenario is someone sues the state when they can’t afford health care but idk how you can afford lawyers when you can’t afford doctors.

  • Makan ☭ CPUSA
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    61 year ago

    Good.

    It does show that more and more proletarians in America are getting more radical. We should use this to our advantage.