Must-read article; Oregon Update

Must read column by Chip Joffe-Halpern in the North Adams Transcript titled “Let’s face up to health care needs.” Chip is the executive director of Ecu-Heath Care in North Adams and the president of the Board of Directors of Health Care for All in Boston. Well said Chip.

Follow up to our blog yesterday regarding the new health care constitutional amendment initiative being considered in Oregon. This article appeared yesterday in the Daily Vanguard, an Oregon college newspaper. The initiative campaign seeks to put a measure on the November 2006 ballot that would require the Legislature to come up with a plan to extend affordable health care to more Oregonians. "We can no longer tolerate leaving 600,000 Oregonians without health insurance," Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, said at a news conference Wednesday to announce the initiative drive. The proposal gives the Legislature two sessions (until 2009) to come up with a solution, but does not dictate what the solution must be. We wish our sister campaign in Oregon the very best.