The Bill

Senate Bill 770, the main bill that HCAO-Action supported in the 2019 session, passed in both chambers on June 30, and was signed by the governor on July 23.

The bill establishes a task force to make legislative recommendations regarding a single payer system in Oregon, including how it would be funded. The enrolled version can be seen here.

A quote in support of the bill from the lead chief sponsors -

“Health care is a basic human necessity and it should be a right,” Sen. James Manning, a chief co-sponsor of the bill, said. “We all need health care, and you can’t survive without it. We’ve got to make sure that we get universal health care set up in Oregon so that none of us go bankrupt or die just because we get sick and don’t have health insurance.”

The sponsors of the bill recognize that health care is a human need as well as a human right: “In Oregon, we take care of each other, and health care is one of the most basic needs,” Sen. Michael Dembrow said. “To reach the point to where our communities around the state are truly thriving, we all must have access to affordable health care.”