Loraine Greeno, 32, is one of the more than 10,500 people in Umatilla County who uses the Oregon Health Plan. A single mother of three, Greeno works at Roy and Venita's restaurant in Hermiston.<br><i>Staff photo by Erin Mills</i>

The story of Brian and June Lavoie, and their employee, Loraine Greeno, should be required reading for legislators looking to learn more about the health care crisis in America.

The Lavoies own Roy and Venita’s restaurant on?Main Street in Hermiston – June’s parents were the original Roy and Venita. They work long hours and endure the strain of owning a business during a recession. They would like to provide health insurance for their handful of employees, but they can’t even afford it for themselves. When they get sick, they pay as they go.

“We try not to get sick,” Brian Lavoie said.

Recently, the Lavoies’ 14-year-old son broke his leg while riding his skateboard. The bone was broken in five places, and he had surgery to insert six corrective pins. Even though their doctor and Good Shepherd Medical Center discounted the bill, the Lavoies owe $30,000.

The family financed the bill through the hospital – maybe they will be able to pay it off in the near future, maybe not. The Lavoies are philosophical.

“We work really hard and we take what God gives us and work with it,” June Lavoie said.

One of the Lavoies’ servers, Loraine Greeno, is a single mother of three. She pays very little for her health insurance, the Oregon Health Plan.?It’s fortunate for her that she does, she said, because she could never do it on her own

For a few years, Greeno and her children had no health insurance. Like the Lavoies, they tried not to get sick. If the children needed to see a doctor, Greeno took them to urgent care clinics.

“I would take my kids in, but I wouldn’t go,” she said.

In August, Oregon became one of 12 states to cover all kids with health insurance and added 35,000 more low-income adults to the Oregon Health Plan. A 1-percent tax on health care premiums and the provider tax, on hospitals and doctors, will pay for the insurance. The move is being lauded as especially admirable because it happened during an economic downturn.

“It’s pretty astonishing,” said Oregon Department of Human Services spokeswoman Patty Wentz. “In an era when most states are cutting people off, Oregon was innovative and began the provider tax – it’s ultimately a savings for providers and insurance companies.”

That’s because, for every dollar the state spends on the Oregon Health Plan, which is really Medicaid, the federal government spends money on Oregon, too, she said.

This is great news for the Lavoies, whose son can now be covered. But Brian and June Lavoie are not eligible for the Oregon Health Plan.

Nor does it much matter to Glenda Mespelt, a stylist at Simply Divine in Hermiston. Mespelt and her husband, Bill, are both self-employed and have watched their premiums skyrocket over the years. When Bill Mespelt turned 55, their premiums went from $765 a month to $969 a month. They decided to increase their deductible to $5,000 in order to lower the premium to $707 a month.

The Mespelts tried to shop around for health insurance, but no other company will take them because Bill has high blood pressure.

“They won’t take us at all, even though he’s in great physical shape and his condition is managed with medicine,” Glenda Mespelt said.

Health insurance now costs more than their house payment, and the Mespelts worry that if they have to start paying $1,400 or more a month, they won’t be able to do it.

“How are we going to face health insurance in the coming years?,” she said. “We’re still young… How are we going to pay for it when we need it?”