“I chaired the Health Care Subcommittee in the 1989 session of the Oregon Legislature and carried then-Senate president John Kitzhaber’s Oregon Health Plan to the House floor. I remember vividly the floor debate I had with now-Congressman Greg Walden over the “employer mandate” which was a part of the plan. He won!”
Thank you for KITZHABER’S CURE, and from the editor [September] on Roseburg’s Umpqua Dairy and its struggle to maintain health care benefits for its employees. I chaired the Health Care Subcommittee in the 1989 session of the Oregon Legislature and carried then-Senate president John Kitzhaber’s Oregon Health Plan to the House floor. I remember vividly the floor debate I had with now-Congressman Greg Walden over the “employer mandate” which was a part of the plan. He won!
Umpqua Dairy’s Steve Feldkamp’s stark assessment, “Health care costs have the ability to do in the company,” a 75-year-old company, indicates how critical the health care issues have become for our businesses.
The Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce has invited Kitzhaber to address the annual Business Outlook Forum Nov. 9 in Roseburg. This is an opportunity for businesspeople throughout southern Oregon to consider “Kitzhaber’s Cure” and other prescriptions.
Norm Gershon
Roseburg
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