With Election Day on November 3, public polling, along with warnings from healthcare advocates in the Northwest, suggests medical costs are going to define the results.

Recent Pew Research Center results showed nearly three-quarters of voters said healthcare coverage is a major concern, along with rising energy and food prices.

Emily Brice, co-executive director of Northwest Health Law Advocates, said without continued action on the state level, more and more Oregonians will be forced to drop their health coverage.

Image

"We know that's only gotten worse in the last year as folks face double-digit premium increases. They're going to need to resort to emergency rooms and clinics for their care and many will just go without the care that they need," Brice pointed out.

According to Oregon Health Authority officials, nearly 600,000 Oregonians could lose their healthcare coverage following federal budget cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is expected to push millions of eligible Americans off Medicaid by making the work requirements and the paperwork more complex.

President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers argued health insurance subsidies were not meant to be permanent, and Medicaid changes will spur people to join the workforce and cut down on waste. But the arguments may not be resonating with voters. A poll from POLITICO earlier this month found only 30% of voters support House Resolution 1, and Republicans are not highlighting it in campaign ads.

Adam Hoyer, national organizing director for the advocacy group Protect Our Care, said rising premiums have a devastating effect on low-income and older Americans.

"Premiums are only going to get more expensive as young, healthy people decide they're priced out of the pool, because all that's left now are people who are less healthy, and so their premiums are going to enter a vicious cycle and get even more expensive next year. So there's a lot at stake this year," Hoyer emphasized.

Oregon residents who still plan to vote have until 8 p.m. November 3 to cast their ballot at a polling place or put it in a drop box.