I read with great interest the article by Mike Megehee regarding Measure 23, which would set up a comprehensive health plan for all Oregonians that includes medical and alternative treatments. While reading the article I actually found one line that he and I agree on. He said that it should be based on knowledge.

He says in his article that the measure will provide health insurance, nursing home payment, worker’s compensation benefits including income protection, and payment for chiropractors and massage therapists at no deductible and no co-pay. He says that the government can provide this for 25 percent less than the cost of having it done through an insurance company. If that is the case, why is the Oregon Health Plan, managed also by the state, in so much trouble? Why is it also that the state did not propose this nor have officials even shown any interest in its passage? And I would be very interested in the studies that he talks about, because I have not seen them.

He says that the cost increases on this plan will be reduced because it covers you in more places. Please explain that one to me. He said that insurance companies will be the major losers. The largest insurance companies in this state will just close their regional offices here and move the employees to a different state, never to come back even if this doesn’t work. And who will the losers be?

Mr. Megehee says that it is not exactly socialized medicine and one public corporation pays the bills. The public corporation is the state of Oregon. And if that isn’t socialized medicine, I guess I don’t know what socialized medicine is.

He says that there will be a payroll tax and an income tax. The payroll tax for the corporations increase by 11 percent and your state income tax increases by 8 percent. That makes both of those the largest in the United States. He says that the overhead is limited to 4 percent. The overhead currently for the Oregon Health Plan is 20 percent and it is administered by the same people.

Mr. Megehee said that the new taxes will be tax deductible on the federal return. The current state laws say that they are not. He used $200,000 as a guideline for the 8 percent. The actual numbers are one-tenth that high. Yes. If you are making $20,000, your tax will increase by more than double to 17 percent.

He also said that smaller businesses pay less taxes. They do not pay less of a percentage. He also said that the corporations can pass the payroll tax to the employees. I am sure that a lot of employees are going to appreciate that.

In short, if it costs more money for corporations to exist in Oregon than Washington, they will move to Washington. If it costs more money for people to work in Oregon than Washington, they will move to Washington. If we have less people working and less corporations hiring, there will be less tax revenue.

The reason for the tax shortage currently is that Oregon has the highest unemployment numbers in the United States. And the good news is that if this passes you will have new neighbors. The bad news is that they will be sick, unemployed ones.

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Bob Schroth works in the insurance business in Hermiston.