Kitzhaber tepid over Measure 50:

The biggest complaints about Ballot Measure 50 are:

1. It's a diminishing returns flow of funds. Since the smoking population will get smaller, it's not fair to give these poor kids a lame horse... so, we better not give them any healthcare at all.
2. It's a constitutional amendment and is therefore bad!
3. It aint fair to all the poor people who smoke! Why should they carry the burden?

Ok, since we all know republicans don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves, much less poor people, much much less poor people on minimum wage (who they think are better off without an increase in wages) we know that #3 is full of horse shit.

#1 is flawed for so many reasons it’s not even funny. Ballot Measure 50 has already taken into consideration the decrease in smokers and still comes up with some massive dollar amounts for little kids. Numbers like “$386 million” which is the dollar amount that will be raised over the next four years, thanks to all the volunteers at Black Lungs Anonymous.

Last I checked that was $386 million more than what we got going towards little kids right now. But those darn republicans don’t want a penny of it going to them kids. They want their tobaccee cheap and accessible.

Now, the only legitimate issue that the righties bring up is the constitution. They’re right… the Constitution (US or State, no difference) should be sacred for big, important things like… giving blacks and women the right to vote, right to bear arms etc.

Should it be used so flippantly and casually to tax a drug? Well, no, not really. So the big question is WHY did the planners make it this way?

Could it be that they just want to make sure nobody touches it? …..mmmmm possibly. Or could it be because the only way around the rat bastard republicans is through the constitution? I don’t know and the answers are not readily available. But, I’ll find out Tuesday what the hell the reason is.

In the mean time, here’s what John Kitzhaber has to say about Ballot Measure 50. You can visit his blog here.


Why I intend to vote for Measure 50
Submitted by John Kitzhaber on Tue, 09/25/2007 - 9:06am.
Over the past few weeks I have been asked several times whether or not I am supporting Ballot Measure 50, which seeks to fund the Healthy Kids Plan. While each Archimedes Movement member in Oregon will need to decide how to vote on this issue, I am writing to clarify my own personal position.

I intend to vote for Measure 50 for one simple reason – we have Oregon children who desperately need better financial access to health services now and they cannot wait. This is one way to address a very real problem in the short term.

At the same time, I agree with many of you who argue that the financing mechanism in Measure 50 is far from perfect on a number of counts. First, I do not believe that the Oregon constitution is the appropriate place to put a tobacco tax increase. This should have been a statutory measure.

Second, I believe that financing health care for children is the responsibility of our entire society, not just those who smoke. The general fund would have been a more appropriate and a fairer financing mechanism. However, it is also not fair that so many of Oregon children lack timely access to needed medical care. We should not penalize them because this was the best the legislature could come up with.

So I intend to vote for Measure 50 and will urge others to do so as well. But we must also recognize that this is not a solution to the larger challenges facing our health care system. It is a bandaid – albeit an important one – but it does not take on the underlying structural problems which are driving up costs in our health care system.

If we do not deal honestly and effectively with these issues – which is one of the central objectives of the Archimedes Movement – the promise of access we are making to our children in the Healthy Kids Plan will be a hollow one and, in a few years, we will be dropping kids from coverage once more. We can do better.

So, even as we commit ourselves through Ballot Measure 50 to dealing with the immediate crisis in access faced by thousands of Oregon’s children, we must also recommit ourselves to the larger challenge of serious system wide reform.

John Kitzhaber
P.S. For more information on the campaign for Measure 50, see the Healthy Kids Oregon website.