It’s official: there will be a special election in Oregon on January 23, 2018. At stake in ballot Measure 101 is the health care of hundreds of thousands of Oregonians.

One of the most important pieces of legislation to come out of the 2017 Oregon legislative session was a health care package to preserve recent gains in health insurance coverage, particularly among working- and middle-class Oregonians.

In an op-ed in The Portland Tribune, OCPP policy analyst Janet Bauer discusses what would happen should opponents succeed in defeating the health care legislation at the ballot. As Janet explains, a “no” vote on Measure 101 would leave the state’s Medicaid program, known as the Oregon Health Plan, in shambles and raise costs for people who buy their own health insurance.

This January, remember: “Yes” on Measure 101 protects health care for working- and middle-class Oregonians.