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Jason Conger on Health Care |
Conger once again insisted that he voted for Cover Oregon not because he supported the federal law but because he thought it would be better to have a state-run exchange than to be part of the federal exchange, as is the case with several other states.
He even took the step of brandishing an opinion from the legislative counsel noting that state legislators didn't have a say in approving the new federal law. "I think that it is time that we stop with misinformation," Conger said, "and we start being transparent and honest with voters."
Conger said he thought that approach was better than having Oregonians go into the national health exchange set up under the new federal health care exchange. It was a "hard choice between two bad options," he said.
"We were promised that 'If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep it,' " Conger said. "Millions of Americans, and over 140,000 Oregonians, are now finding out that it is not true and are losing their health insurance coverage. We need to do whatever we can at the state level to help individuals and families who are losing their health insurance coverage in just a few weeks."
"It is outrageous that 140,000 Oregonians will be forced out of the health plan they chose, despite the promises that were made," explained Rep. Conger. "I plan on meeting with my colleagues to find a way to help the families that have been impacted by the ObamaCare roll out."
We can make healthcare more affordable--and expand its availability. Those two principals should not be contradictory. To do it, we need to broaden our focus from just curing those who are already sick to include educating people about good health choices.
We can encourage health and wellness, shift to an outcome based system for health care, and enact common sense malpractice reform so the patient and doctor are driving healthcare decisions, not lawyers and insurance companies.