Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon Legislature and Congressional reps are gearing up for discussions on health care reform. As April Baer reports, new faces in Washington D.C. and Salem have advocates optimistic that systemic change is possible.

Tom Daschle, the man Barack Obama tapped to run the Department of Health and Human Services, has spent the past week asking Americans for input on how the system can improve.

Oregon's got standing in this national discussion, having tried health care rationing with the Oregon Health Plan.

Several key players will meet this week at the Oregon Convention Center to talk about the role states may play.

John McConnell    "It's sort of interesting finally to see that some of the talk on the national level is about doing things that Oregon has spent time doing."

Professor John McConnell is an economist who specializes in health care matters at OHSU. He notes businesses' concerns about restructuring health care may now be counterbalanced by the unsustainable cost of the current system.

Some advocates see it as an ideal time to advance their agenda.

Betty Johnson: "My husband and I did operate a small business, and if I were in that role right now, I would like to get out from under that responsibility."

That's Betty Johnson, with the advocates group Health Care for All-Oregon. She's among those urging leaders to adopt a single-payer system.