By JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press 11/6/02 1:52 AM

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon voters took the advice of the health insurance industry on Tuesday to overwhelmingly defeat an initiative to make Oregon the first state in the nation to offer free tax-financed medical care for everyone.

With 59 percent of precincts counted, Measure 23 was defeated with 646,687 "no" votes, or 80 percent, to 163,636 "yes" votes, or 20 percent.

Mark Nelson, who managed the $1.2 million campaign against Measure 23 that was financed largely by health insurance providers, said voters were not ready to take a chance on sweeping change.

"I think people are concerned about access to health care and the cost of health care, but they don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater," said Nelson. "They see a system they believe needs to be constantly reformed and modified, but not by throwing it entirely out the window."

Len Hagen, legislative affairs manager for Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, said he felt voters showed they want to fix the problem of more than 300,000 Oregonians without health insurance, but do not feel another government program is the way to do it, especially with such a high cost.

"Part of the silver lining out of this, I would say health plans, hospitals, physicians -- we all have heard the message: `Fix the uninsured problem.' We need to continue to work toward that goal."

Health Care for All Oregonians campaign chairman Mark Lindgren said he was undaunted by the defeat and planning to try again in 2004.

"I expected not to make it -- not the first time around," he said. "It took years for this country to come to a decision what it wanted to do about slavery and getting women's right to vote.

"Some organizations that opposed this measure have encouraged us strongly to come back with modified language," he added.

A number of voters dropping off ballots in downtown Portland said they spent a lot of time considering the issue, even if they voted against it.

"I have a lot of friends from Canada and they think it's a good idea," said Helen Merrow, 22, who works at a clothing store. "But I was worried about how much it could cost."

Postal worker Daniel McMahan, 33, said it was the most important issue on the ballot.

"There are social issues like getting good health care for people that are just more important than the cost," he said.

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2002