If President-elect Obama wants to make progress on health insurance reform, he should call on John Kitzhaber, our former Oregon governor.

Last week, reports from Portland said Kitzhaber would consider a cabinet post in the Obama administration if it was offered, but he had not gone so far as to fill out the seven-page application form.

Obama might want to make the first move. Kitzhaber was on the forefront of the insurance reform movement when he held public office in the 1990s. It was because of him that Oregon launched a state-sponsored insurance program that tried to inject good sense into how money for health care is spent.

The central idea was to spend money on treatments that work the best, and try not to spend any on those of little or no worth.

Since the end of his second term as governor, Kitzhaber has remained active in the reform movement, refining and promoting a plan to pool all the money spent on health care and then apply it to the most useful methods and procedures.

Obama should know that Kitzhaber could ignite popular and congressional support behind a rational health care reform that actually works. (hh)