Upcoming events

01-06 - Democratic women's lunch CANCELED
01-08 - Winning Universal Health Care in 2009- Yes We Can!
01-22 - JCDCC monthly meeting

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Neighborhood Leaders

Office of President-elect Barack Obama

Josephine County Democratic Party
P.O. Box 2007
Grants Pass, OR 97528
(541) 476-7683

Office location:
516 NE 7th St.
Grants Pass, OR 97526

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Josephine County Democrats are working for:

A balanced and equitable economy that provides a living wage for all workers.
Competent, affordable and accessible health care.
World class, lifelong educational opportunities.
A healthy, sustainable environment.
International diplomacy and cooperation.

We are county citizens who believe in bringing people together for the common good and making democratic principles the driving force behind all public policy.
We are working to build a community that extends beyond our borders and respects the inherent dignity of all.

Oregon Health Forum community meeting in Medford

Start: 05/15/2008 - 7:00pm
End: 05/15/2008 - 9:00pm

Organized by Oregon Health Forum, Oregon Health Decisions and Northwest Health Foundation, this meeting is for ALL Oregonians and they will inform members of the Oregon Health Fund Board as they prepare their health care plan to present to the Legislature.

This event is free.
Interpreters and child care are available. Call 800-501-4220 to arrange child care or interpreters.

Transportation call: Oregon Action 772-4029

Read this excellent editorial from the April 30 Oregonian

Speak up about Oregon health care (Oregonian Editorial)
Starting Thursday, citizens in every corner of the state will be asked to help craft an affordable new "Oregon Plan"
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Heads up, uninsured Oregonians. All 600,000 of you have a lot at stake in something big that's about to begin.
The same goes for the more than 1 million underinsured Oregonians and thousands of small-business owners who are struggling to provide employee coverage across the state.
Beginning Thursday, all will have a chance to speak up about reforms they hope to see under the Healthy Oregon Act. That's the legislation, Senate Bill 329, passed by the 2007 Legislature to begin crafting a comprehensive, affordable health care plan that reaches all Oregonians.
On Thursday, Gresham will be the site of the first of 13 public listening sessions on this subject by the Oregon Health Fund Board. It's a seven-member citizens commission created by SB329 to develop the blueprint for a detailed health plan for lawmakers to review next fall before the 2009 Legislature.
Subsequent meetings will be held across the state through June 11 in Newport, Astoria, Klamath Falls, Medford, Washington County, La Grande, Ontario, Coos Bay, Eugene, Bend, Portland and Salem. The full schedule with times and locations is online at www.healthforum.org.
Such listening sessions are sometimes greeted with deep skepticism in far-flung corners of the state. Too often over the years, leaders from Salem have gone on the road for well-intentioned public hearings, only to have rural Oregonians end up feeling that the "discussions" were one-sided.
Not these. The newly created board sincerely needs to hear from Oregonians struggling over access to health care. The volunteer board members have many difficult recommendations to make, and they correctly realize they'll do a better job if they hear from the public first.
Consider, for example, the choices facing board members in deciding whether the reformed Oregon health care system should provide coverage to help smokers who want to quit. What if the new plan covered medications to help smokers stop but didn't cover hypnosis? How would people feel about that?
Hundreds of such tough choices have to be addressed as the board grapples with its important mission: rebuilding the state's health care system so it becomes affordable, effective and available to all.
And how can that be done? The enabling legislation will create an Oregon Health Fund by pooling state and federal Medicaid money with contributions from uninsured Oregonians and from employers who don't currently offer health benefits. Every participant will receive an Oregon Health Card that can be used to shop for a private insurer through a health insurance exchange.
In the new millennium, Oregon has lagged behind other states at health care reform. The public process that begins Thursday offers hope that a year from now, Americans everywhere will speak with respect and admiration about the new "Oregon Plan."

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