If Only It Were Just a Tax Hike…

Posted by Merrill Matthews in Health Care, Individual Mandates, Insurance Regulation, Massachusetts, Oregon on May 1st, 2009 | no responses

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It may be a surprise that the least controversial aspect of the proposed Oregon health reform plan is an attempt to raise taxes.

The newly proposed tax on insurers and medical providers would be used to fund expanded coverage for 80,000 low-income children and 75,000 low-income adults. The program hopes to use the tax to increase revenues from private sources, but also through maximizing federal dollars.

What could be more controversial than increasing taxes to pay for someone else’s health care?

How about HB 2009, the health system reform bill proposed in Oregon. The proposal would reorganize the entire health system — including providers, insurance and government-provided benefits — into a single regulatory body with authority over all of the areas.

The new health care authority would be charged with a variety of tasks, including creating its own version of a Massachusetts’ connector, and providing guidance on the practice of medicine in Oregon, including the most effective treatments.

Both controversial proposals may end up passing the legislature in the end, but the state (as well as the nation’s) declining economy have made passage of the proposals far less certain.

(Via the Council for Affordable Health Insurance’s JP Wieske and Kevin Wrege)