in the next ten years if heath care reform fails.
In Oregon, the number of uninsured could soar to nearly 1 million from 715,000 today. Providing care to poor families and children through Medicaid and the state Children Health Insurance Program could jump 110 percent over the next 10 years, from $2.5 billion today to $5.4 billion in 2019.
“This report makes clear the urgency of health insurance reform,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., said. “The opposition is playing politics with people’s lives, and if we continue down this dangerous path, almost one million Oregonians will be uninsured in the next decade. We simply cannot afford the high cost of inaction.”
Even under the “best case scenario” in which enrollment in those programs is stable, the cost in Oregon would rise from $2.5 billion to $4.3 billion over the next decade. The costs to individuals and families in Oregon would range from 70 percent more in a worse case to 49 percent in the best case.
