This article by Ralph Routon originally appeared in the Colorado Springs Independent:

Ron Wyden isn’t running for president, though some of his constituents wish he would.

To most of America, Wyden obviously doesn’t stand out, even after 15 years in the House and 11 in the Senate. At 58, he’s just another little-known member of the ruling Democratic majority in Congress.

Yet the senior U.S. senator from Oregon is among the few lawmakers who opposed the Iraq war from the start. He was one of only 10 senators to vote against renewing the Patriot Act last year, and he supports legalizing same-sex marriage.

Those stances might not win an election in Colorado Springs, but they help make Wyden an influential voice among Democrats inside the Capitol.

Last weekend in Portland, Ore., Wyden spoke to editors and publishers attending the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies national convention. He could talk all day about the war in Iraq, and he makes it clear that “more votes are coming up” to push harder than ever for a timetable to bring troops home.

But this wasn’t an anti-war speech. Wyden used the unusual opportunity of this national audience in his hometown to discuss his other favorite subject:

Health care.

Wyden already has authored bills trying to reform and improve the health-care system, which he refers to as “broken” and “sick care, not health care.” To back up that characterization, he says the amount of money going to health care would be enough to have one physician - making $200,000 a year - for every seven U.S. families. He adds that despite the staggering, $2.2 trillion annual expenditure, Americans’ life expectancy ranks 31st among the world’s nations - just ahead of Albania and just behind Jordan.

Some might wonder why a low-profile senator doesn’t wait to discuss all this until after the 2008 presidential election. Surely then, if a Democrat replaces George W. Bush, the next administration can make major progress.

Of course, what if the next president turns out to be Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson or another Republican? What if the GOP reverses its Senate deficit?

That helps explain why health care is Wyden’s obsessive mission - now. He’s not content to wait until Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards or Bill Richardson prevails. As Wyden puts it, “Everybody running for president has a plan, but I have a specific strategy for how to get there from here.”

In pursuing his crusade, Wyden has proposed the Healthy Americans Act. He’s encouraged for three reasons: He sees an “incredible” about-face in the business community, moving from “we can’t afford to fix health care” to “we can’t afford not to fix health care.” He sees business and labor agreeing something must be done. And he hears conservatives conceding that “if we’re going to fix health care, we have to cover everybody.”

Wyden feels the biggest issue is worsening health insurance through employers because of rate increases mixed with benefit reductions. Wyden says work-based plans are “melting like a Popsicle on a summer sidewalk in August.”

His proposal would end all insurance tied to work, giving employers a break and allowing employees to leave dead-end jobs without losing benefits. Individuals and families would buy health insurance much as they purchase car insurance now. Wyden’s bill also forces insurance companies to “take all comers” and guarantee lifetime coverage at reasonable rates tied to income, even with pre-existing conditions. As he says, “Once you sign up, you’re in forever.”

Wyden’s simple theme: Everybody should have the same secure, affordable, high-quality coverage as members of Congress. It also could solve the rising problem of covering military veterans, especially those who served in Iraq. It would offer incentives for citizens and insurers who give a high priority to wellness and prevention. It could save $1.48 trillion in 10 years (based on current costs and relentless increases) without requiring any new government money.

Hard to argue with any of that. But what happens next? Wyden is working to build a list of backers for his bill, also known as S. 334. He’s hoping people will learn about the proposal (for more, check out wyden.senate.gov) and urge legislators - in our case, starting with Sens. Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard - to become co-sponsors.

In about 45 minutes, Ron Wyden made believers out of many cynics in this audience. He insists he’s just trying to make America a better place.

He could be on the verge of succeeding.

Chances are, you have a kind of healthcare coverage that senior Oregon Senator Ron Wyden would call “broken”:

1. You’re one of 170 million Americans who buy into your employer’s insurance plan.
2. Like 48 million other Americans, you have no health insurance.

If you had any semblance of a good time at the Portland Mercury’s after party last night, you may have slept through Wyden’s special session earlier this morning. Here’s what you missed.

Wyden emphatically stated that healthcare in America isn’t working, and it will take a bi-partisan effort to repair it. He pointed out the following problems with our current system that he hoped alt-weeklies would “tell their readers”:

* For the $2.3 trillion we spend annually on healthcare, every seven families in America could have a personal physician at a salary of making $200,000 per year.

* Our healthcare has a small collective value: The US is 31st in the world in life expectancy and has a higher infant mortality rate than Cuba.

* We don’t have real health care, but what Wyden calls “sick care”: Chronic illness makes up 70% of healthcare costs, which means little is paid for prevention.

* “Employeer-based coverage is melting like a popsicle,” according to Wyden. “Under federal tax codes, if you’re a high-flying CEO, you can get a designer smile on your face and write off every penny on your taxes.”

* The insured are paying for the uninsured’s health coverage–to the tune of $1000 each from their premiums.

Wyden’s proposed his Healthy Americans Act to fix the broken system.

Here’s an example of how the act would work. Wyden described a hypothetical “Des Moines Alternative Newsweekly,” where a staff member made $50,000 a year (which was met with universal smiles from the audience) and his employer paid $12,000 a year in health benefits. Under the new system, the employer would cash out the benefits and roll it into the employee’s salary. Then the employee would buy his own coverage.

How exactly will this work? Well, for one, it means the healthcare system will need to be reformed, with no more “cherry-picking” about who is eligible for coverage and who isn’t. But it also means we can work with the system in place without tearing it down and starting over, unlike single-payer options (as presidential candidate John Edwards advocates) or federally-funded universal coverage.

The bottom line? “People know that the [current] system can?t be sustained,” says Wyden.

[FUN FACT: Willamette Week Publisher Richard Meeker went to law school with Wyden].