The one little thing you have to do right now to improve health care in Oregon.

By Chris Wig of Eugene, Oregon. Chris Wig is a political organizer and mental health care worker who lives in Eugene, Oregon. He currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Democratic Party of Lane County and as a member of the Cover Oregon Board Development Committee.

Since October 1, 145,000 Oregonians, nearly the population of my hometown Eugene, have been able to purchase subsidized health insurance plans through Cover Oregon. Now, with the Open Enrollment deadline looming on March 31, it's time to put our progressive values into action by working to ensure the working families in our community have access to affordable health coverage.

So what can you do to help? The same thing you do to keep Oregon blue: grassroots neighbor-to-neighbor contact.

Progressive Oregonians like you have the just the skills and experience needed to engage in values-based conversations with real-world consequences. Ask your friends and neighbors if they're covered. Ask your server the next time you go out to dinner and the person who sits next to you on the bus. If they're covered, that's great. If they're not, encourage them to visit the Cover Oregon website and search for an agent or community partner to help them sign up for affordable health insurance on the exchange.

I understand many of you feel frustrated by the rollout of our state's health insurance exchange; I'm frustrated too, and like many of you I spend my free time advocating for a universal, single-payer health care system. But right now the clock is ticking on open enrollment, and there are working families in our state who may not have looked into Cover Oregon or know their health coverage options.

Those families need health coverage, and they are counting on progressives like us to spread the word. Let's not let them down.

March 19, 2014 Posted in guest column.