Don't county Wyden out.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Supporters of health care reform in the United States correctly sense that the American public is finally beginning to understand how unfair and inefficient the nation's dysfunctional health care system has become.

From the presidential debates to the blistering indictment of the U.S. system in Michael Moore's movie "Sicko," Americans are hearing over and over again that they pay more for health care than anyone in the world and for that investment rank 37th among industrialized nations in quality of care received. Add to that the shame of the world's richest nation allowing 46 million of its citizens, including more than 8 million children, to go without health insurance, and it's not hard to persuade Americans that the current system is badly broken.

The problem is getting any kind of agreement on what to do about it. The health care industry's political and economic clout is second to none. There is nowhere near enough political consensus in the current Congress to do something as radical as creating a single-payer system run by the federal government.

Republicans tend to favor tax incentives that expand access but maintain the healthy profits of their constituents in the private insurance industry, which provides coverage in one form or another to almost 75 percent of the population. Democrats favor approaches that fundamentally change the rules for the private insurance industry - such as requiring insurers to cover people with prior health problems - but don't replace it with a single-payer system.

While the presidential candidates duke it out over whose health care plan will help the most people, Sen. Ron Wyden's approach is quietly winning bipartisan support in Congress. It may be that a transitional plan with the kind of compromises Wyden proposes will be the bridge to more sweeping reform.

Already, the Oregon Democrat has won endorsements and cosponsorship of his bill (SB 334) from Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Robert Bennett of Utah and, most recently, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire.

Combining a variety of ideas that have been suggested by Democrats, Republicans, advocacy organizations and industry groups, Wyden proposes to provide affordable health insurance for all Americans that offers benefits comparable to those in the standard Blue Cross Blue Shield plan for federal workers and members of Congress. His plan would include everyone except those already covered by Medicare or the military.

Wyden doesn't shy away from the need to change the way private health insurance currently operates. His bill eliminates the arbitrary preconditions private insurance companies now use to deny or limit coverage to the people who need it the most. No one, under Wyden's proposal, could be denied coverage based on previous or existing health problems, occupation, genetic information or age.

Everyone would be required to purchase health insurance, and premiums would be collected through annual federal income tax filings. Subsidies would be provided on a sliding scale for people living between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. There would be no cost to individuals earning less than 100 percent of the federal poverty level.

Wyden's approach may not win the hearts of the more radical health reformers, but they don't have the muscle to take on the private insurance industry. Wyden's plan offers an alternative: universal coverage through insurance reform.

It's a smart compromise that may well be around after other proposals have bitten the dust.