With the election decided and new health care options promised, two local medical professionals said sweeping reform of the nation's medical system might not cost any more than what already goes into the system.

Monday at the Corvallis City Club, Paul Hochfeld, an emergency physician at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center for 29 years and Mitch Anderson, acting health director of the Benton County Health Department, said that if restructuring is effective, cash that now goes to pay for red tape and profit could pay for actual medical care.

"Ultimately, the reform of health care doesn't need new money, what it needs is a shift of where it goes," Anderson said. "We're creatures of habit, and this system has been going on for so long, we really need to turn it upside down, and that's hard to get through."

Hochfeld outlined some key points of President-elect Barack Obama's plan for health reform, specifically focusing on the parts of the plan that promise to increase access to those who can't afford health care now.

Anderson spoke about progress of the Oregon Health Fund Board's work to overhaul the state's portion of the medical system.

He also addressed plans to create a "health home" for patients, which would be a one-stop for people needing care. In addition to a primary care physician, a health home might include nurses, nutritionists and people who could perform in-home visits, education and outreach.

Both agreed that economic instability is a major barrier to reform, especially for the state government, which, by law, cannot go into debt to pay for programs. But Hochfeld said people already are in trouble because of the existing system.

"The idea that all of a sudden we're in an economic crisis and we can't afford health care reform is false," he said. "Half of all bankruptcies are because of health care costs. Half of foreclosures are because of health care costs. We can't not afford reform."

They advocated for a single-payer insurance system, which Hochfeld described as "publicly financed, privately delivered health care." People fear such a plan might create socialized medicine, he said, but cited figures that government already pays for 60 percent of the country's medical needs.

The City Club was a friendly room for discussing broad health reform, Anderson said.

"I'm sort of proud of the fact that when I told the guy from the Health Fund Board that I was speaking to you, he said 'oh, Corvallis, they're

single-payer folks,'" he said.

"People here have really made it known what they want."

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