Regarding the news that Oregon health insurance marketplace plans are expected to see large premium hikes in 2027, insurance companies submit that their overheads have increased.

In fact, they are not run efficiently. Corporate insurance overhead costs range from 15% to 25%. In contrast, a single-payer insurer’s overhead – traditional Medicare, for example – is approximately 3%.

In one recent year, the CEOs of America’s six largest publicly traded health insurance and services companies earned nearly $123 million in total compensation, and the seven biggest health insurers generated $54 billion in profits last year.

No wonder private equity sees healthcare providers as profitable investments, with no concern that their ownership results in harm to patients and providers by reducing access to providers and pharmacies. All the while, medical debt plays a major role in Oregon bankruptcies. 

What kind of system can eliminate this grossly financially unequitable system that leaves people sick and injured? A publicly financed, privately provided system with overhead costs at about 3%, and significantly lower, progressive premiums.

Health Care for All Oregon has been working toward such an equitable healthcare system for Oregon for over 20 years. We would be the first state in the U.S. to have universal, single-payer healthcare. The Oregon Legislature established the Universal Health Plan Governance Board in 2023 to produce a plan by September 2026 – now delayed to December – to implement an equitable, affordable, comprehensive, high-quality, publicly funded universal healthcare system. 

Premiums skyrocket while insurance companies deny care and amass profits, and Medicaid cuts are significant. Disastrous health outcomes are inevitable.

Go to HCAO.org, and join the movement to de-corporatize healthcare financing and eliminate private equity involvement. No one should be priced out of the care that they need as billions in profits and salaries are extracted from everyday Oregonians.

Nancy Nickel
Eugene