Ex-Governor in town to solicit public input on health system

John Kitzhaber is bringing his crusade for health care reform to Corvallis.

An emergency room physician before launching a political career that took him to the Oregon Legislature and the governor’s mansion, Kitzhaber is credited with being the architect of the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s innovative alternative to Medicaid for providing medical care for the uninsured.

In January, after flirting with the notion of running for a third term as governor against his successor, incumbent Ted Kulongoski, Kitzhaber launched a different kind of campaign instead.

Called the Archimedes Project, it’s aimed at creating “a more equitable and sustainable health care system,” first in Oregon and eventually nationwide. So far Kitzhaber has not released a detailed description of the plan. Instead, he’s begun organizing town hall-type gatherings to solicit public input on the new health plan’s design.

On Monday, Kitzhaber will make a barnstorming tour of Corvallis that will include two public meetings and several private ones to talk about the Archimedes Movement.

“He’s really trying to reach out to this broad cross-section of people,” said Betty Johnson of Mid-Valley Health Care Advocates, one of the sponsors of the former governor’s visit. Other sponsors include the Corvallis League of Women Voters, the Downtown Corvallis Association and the Corvallis Area Chamber of Commerce.

At 3 p.m., Kitzhaber will be at the Chintimini Senior Center, 2601 N.W. Tyler St. At 4:30, he’ll be at First Christian Church, 602 S.W. Madison Ave.

Both events are designed to gather ideas about health care reform. People who attend will be asked their views on questions such as what a more sustainable and equitable system might look like.

The former governor also plans to meet with local doctors, business people and the newspaper.

On Saturday, in advance of Kitzhaber’s visit, a representative of the Archimedes Movement will be at Oregon State University for a “meet-up” with the public. Anyone interested in health care reform is invited to attend to find out more about the movement.

That event, led by Archimedes project director Liz Baxter, will take place from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the Timberline Room of the McNary Hall dining area, on Southwest 12th Street at Jefferson Avenue.

Kitzhaber’s tightly scheduled swing through Corvallis is part of a broader effort aimed at drumming up support for health care reform. In addition to scheduling meetings all over the state, the Archimedes Movement has set up a Howard Dean-style Web site that encourages participation with a blog written by Kitzhaber, an online forum and a chance to sign a pledge of support.

At the top of the site’s home page is an inspirational quote attributed to the organization’s namesake, the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes: “Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I can move the Earth.”

Though the group’s aims aren’t quite that lofty, they are ambitious. The Archimedes Movement hopes to put an initiative on the November 2008 ballot to adopt a statewide health care plan using federal funds.

But changing the law in Oregon is just the first step.

“That can be a springboard to bring (the health care debate) to the national level,” Johnson said.

Like the Oregon Health Plan before it, the new plan would require waivers from the federal government to depart from the standard Medicaid approach, according to the Archimedes Web site. The strategy is to use those waivers to force a national discussion on health care reform.

Johnson, a backer of the failed Health Care for All Oregon universal coverage initiative in 2002 and a longtime reform advocate, said her group is planning to put its own measure on the 2008 ballot and won’t decide whether to endorse the Archimedes plan until more details are available.

But she thinks Kitzhaber’s strategy for using his Oregon campaign as a lever to raise national awareness of the health care issue can work.

She points out that Kitzhaber attracted national and even international attention in the late 1980s with the creation of the Oregon Health Plan, which focused only on the state’s poorest residents. The Archimedes Movement, she says, is even more ambitious, and she thinks it could well strike a chord with Americans weary of rising health care costs.

“If he does that again with this, which is not a plan for the poor, it’s a plan for Oregonians, he’ll get plenty of attention.”

At a glance

What: Former governor John Kitzhaber will be in Corvallis on Monday to discuss health care reform.

When and where: At 3 p.m., Kitzhaber will be at the Chintimini Senior Center, 2601 N.W. Tyler St.

At 4:30, he’ll be at First Christian Church, 602 S.W. Madison Ave.

On the Net: www.archimedesmovement.org

Bennett Hall is the business editor for the Gazette-Times. He can be reached at 758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net.