[The Oregon state health plan for access to health services: the context, elaboration and characteristics]

The Oregon Health Plan is the first explicit and public attempt to establish the priority of health services by a systematic assessment of their cost-effectiveness. The need to solve major health problems such as increasing costs or the effectiveness and equity of health services as well as the debate developed around the plan, deserves a detailed review. This article describes the health care context where the plan took place, reviews the most important elements of its elaboration, analyzes methods used and summarizes the main reactions to the plan.