Zitat

---

Oregon aggressively expanded its Medicaid rolls under the Affordable Care Act, adding enough people to leave only 5 percent of its population uninsured — one of America's lowest rates.

Now, with the reduction of a federal match that covered those enrollees, the state is calling on voters to decide how to pay for its ballooning Medicaid costs.

A special election on Tuesday asks Oregonians whether they approve of a tax on hospitals, health insurers and managed care companies that would leave Medicaid, as it is now, untouched. More than 1 in 4 residents here rely on it.

Maine voters were in the national spotlight when they recently approved Medicaid expansion. But experts say Oregon's election is the only instance of voters — not lawmakers — getting the final say on the complicated question of how to fund rising Medicaid costs.

[snip]

Proponents call the tax an "assessment" and say money raised could cover the more than 350,000 low-income Oregonians who were added to the plan since 2014 while state lawmakers work out a long-term solution.

The loss of that revenue could jeopardize an additional $630 million to $960 million in federal Medicaid matching funds that flow to the poorest in the state, according to the nonpartisan voter pamphlet. That possibility prompted the very hospitals and health insurers who would be taxed to come out as the measure's biggest backers. They say the cost of the taxes would be less than that of uninsured emergency-room visits.

---

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/busin...e195896859.html

This is Oregon so it should pass, which is fine as long as Oregonians pay for it.

Should pass, what with the TOKE vote, and all.