Voters protect Medicaid coverage
Measure 101 passed easily Tuesday night as more than 60 percent of voters chose to protect Medicaid coverage for 1 in 4 Oregonians.
With the measure’s passage, the Oregon Legislature was able to avoid devoting its upcoming six-week session to making up a huge health care budget shortfall in the event of the referendums failure.
“Oregon voters realized that without Measure 101, the Legislature would be looking at cuts to education, public safety, senior assistance and other essential services,” OSEA President Tim Stoelb said. “Cutting an already inadequate education budget would have been devastating across the board, and I’m really happy the measure passed.”
Measure 101 is paid for by hospitals, insurance companies and coordinated care organizations who have agreed to pay a small assessment fee to make basic health care affordable and accessible for every Oregonian. The federal government will then match what is raised in Oregon, allowing the state to continue funding Medicaid at its current level.
Stoelb credited the win to the amazing coalition of 175 organizations — of which OSEA was one — that banded together to pass the measure.
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