HEALTHY KIDS PLAN ON NOVEMBER BALLOT—OSPIRG Advocate Laura Etherton talks with Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a strong supporter of the Healthy Kids Plan during the 2007 session. The Legislature voted to refer the OSPIRG-backed plan to voters.

OSPIRG: “Yes” To Healthy Kids Plan

Before adjourning, the 2007 Legislature referred the Healthy Kids Plan to the ballot. Oregon voters will have the opportunity to enact the Healthy Kids Plan during the November elections.

The plan would help make children’s health care affordable for all Oregon families, funded in part through an increase in the tobacco tax. Increasing the cost of cigarettes would also help cut youth smoking rates and save Oregon millions in health care expenses.

“It makes sense to give children guaranteed access to checkups, preventative care and other treatment,“ said OSPIRG Advocate Laura Etherton. “And it makes sense to raise Oregon’s tobacco tax to help pay for the program, cut youth smoking rates, and
save lives.”

Over 117,000 Oregon children go without health insurance. More than 90 percent of uninsured children live in families where at least one parent works, but steeply rising insurance costs put coverage out of reach. Children without health insurance are more likely to end up in the emergency room, which results in higher costs overall. Experts estimate health insurance premiums are about 10 percent higher due to costly emergency room care for
the uninsured.

In addition to providing funds to cover children under the Oregon Health Plan, the Healthy Kids Plan would pool purchasing power to negotiate an affordable, accountable, private children’s insurance plan available on a sliding scale to all Oregon families.

“Oregon ought to be raising the healthiest generation of kids ever,” said Etherton. “Passing the Healthy Kids Plan in the November elections is the right place
to start.”