In the last recession, we saw tens of thousands of Oregonians lose their health care coverage. With the number of uninsured already ballooning rapidly due to job loss and the unattainable cost of premiums, we must reverse course this time around. We have at hand a funding mechanism that ensures more Oregonians access to health care. The proposed provider tax would generate a steady stream of federal dollars used to insure more than 100,000 more Oregonians.

It is important to remember that the provider tax is not a new idea. Oregon’s 25 largest hospitals and Medicaid managed care organizations have been paying these taxes since 2004. The proposal of a new provider tax stems from the fact that the current tax, which currently funds the Oregon Health Plan is in peril. The state’s provider tax law expires October 1, 2009. At the same time, the federal government is ready to enforce new rules that will deny matching funds for provider taxes like the ones paid by Medicaid managed care organizations. If we do not renew and restructure our provider taxes, we stand to lose vital federal matching dollars that would guarantee coverage to Oregon’s children and low-income adults. In this economy, we cannot afford to leave our federal tax dollars back in Washington D.C.