Publicly Funded Health Care for All

The Renaissance Building, 136 SW Washington St.

In the wake of last year’s federal health care law, we continue to see proposals for reform. Portions of the federal law face legal challenge, and in Oregon, Governor Kitzhaber’s Health Systems Transformation Team has proposed the creation of “Coordinated Care Organizations” to manage health care on a local or statewide basis. State Senator Frank Morse has proposed a system funded by a constitutionally dedicated sales tax.

At the May 9 meeting of the Corvallis City Club, Dr. Michael Huntington and Dr. Paul Hochfeld will discuss the rationale for a publicly funded health-care system and how it prevents physical, emotional and financial suffering for individuals and communities. They will review reform efforts currently under way in Oregon and how they complement a single-payer system. They are active members of Mad As Hell Doctors (http://madashelldoctors.com/).

An emergency-room physician at Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis for 31 years, Paul graduated from MIT with B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering and from the University of California San Diego in medicine. He produced a documentary — Health, Money and Fear — which has been widely viewed within the health-care reform community and is available for viewing at www.ourailingheatlhcare.com. He has been actively advocating for definitive health-care reform.

Mike grew up in Southern California, went to OSU, then OHSU for medical school and later residency in radiation oncology. From 1984 through 2006, he was Medical Director for the Radiation Oncology Department and Cancer Center at Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis. Since his retirement he has joined with other physicians and activists in Corvallis to form a group whose mission is to engage colleagues and the public in discussion about the urgent need for health-care reform. The group has co-sponsored public forums and given many talks to civic groups in Corvallis over the past four years. In 2007 this group became the Oregon Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program and helped form the Mad As Hell Doctors, which toured the U.S. in September 2009, California in 2010, and is now touring Oregon.