(Clackamas)- At a time when 60% of Americans disapprove of his work on health care, President Bush is expected to use his State of the Union speech tonight to announce a series of proposals touted to deal with health insurance and health care costs. If the proposals are those being reported in the media, Oregonians for Health Security believes that those strategies will fall far short of addressing the two critical problems in our health care system: a growing number of uninsured and skyrocketing costs.   Our nation deserves much broader and more effective solutions.

Euphemistically titled “consumer-driven health care”, Bush’s proposals are not much more than a repackaging of his Social Security reforms. While providing more tax breaks for wealthy Americans he will leave the lowest-income and chronically ill patients to wither away.      Granting more regressive tax breaks to individuals who can afford health care does not reduce costs, increase access or lead to a more efficient use of our health care system.

“Bush’s plan does nothing to reduce the cost of health care - it simply shifts more of the costs to working families who can’t afford it,” said Maribeth Healey, executive director of Oregonians for Health Security, “Research shows people with health savings accounts pay more out-of-pocket for less quality care.   This is the wrong direction for Oregon and for America.”

“I work full-time, but my employer does not offer health insurance.   My husband has chronic health conditions which have left us with over $100,000 in medical bills we can’t afford to pay,” explained Cheryl Smith of Portland.  “The President’s plan won’t help us. If we had money to put in a savings account it would be going to pay for the health care we need right now.”

“What else should we expect from the people who brought us the Medicare Prescription Drug fiasco?,” asked retired health care provider, John Estelle of Salem. “This is just more of the same - protecting the profits of wealthy corporations over the needs of working families struggling to afford the basics like preventive care and dental services.”

“As a nurse, I am appalled at President Bush’s lack of vision in resolving our nation’s health care crisis,” said Judy Lebens of Hillsboro. “Simply providing tax breaks to those who can already afford health care will make the problem worse.  We need common-sense solutions that reduce costs and increase access to comprehensive health care services."