uninsured

Cover All People will implement a $10 million program to provide health insurance to roughly 80,000 people who had no coverage.

Many without insurance qualify for Medicaid and up to one-half of those with insurance are not fully covered because their deductibles or expenses are too high.

Since October, Cover Oregon has been toiling through technological hiccups to make sure more Oregonians have affordable and quality health insurance. Behind the scenes, even before the Affordable Care Act became law, efforts to have more children covered by health insurance have been quietly successful, especially in Oregon. According to a new report, "For Kids' Sake: State-Level Trends in Children's Health Insurance - A State-by-State Analysis," the percentage of uninsured children in the U.S. dropped from 9.7 percent in 2008 to 7.5 percent in 2012. The report, conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health's State Health Access Data Assistance Center and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, also documents recent coverage trends at the state level using data from 2008 through 2012, the most recent year available.

The previously uninsured can expect to wait up to two years for even pre-op care unless Oregon’s Insurance Commissioner issues a rule change by Jan. 1

The prices for cataract surgery for an uninsured patient vary from $2,500 to more than $8,000 depending on whether the clinic is located in Bend, Portland or Salem

October 25, 2012 -- For seven years, the Southwest Community Health Center – nestled in the heart of southwest Portland's Multnomah Village – has served Portland's uninsured, with no restrictions on age, income or neighborhood. Forty percent of patients travel to the neighborhood from outside southwest Portland – some from as far away as Troutdale or Woodburn – but the majority of patients live in the southwest quadrant.

October 19, 2012 -- A 2010 report published by the Oregon Office of Health Policy Research estimates that 35 percent of currently people lacking insurance would remain uninsured by 2019, despite expanded coverage by the Affordable Care Act.