States Taking the Lead in Health Care Reform

First Massachusetts passes a universal health care insurance mandate. Now comes this word from Oregon, where it appears former Gov. Tom Kitzhaber is leading efforts to enact a state-run insurance system (very different from a mandate that individuals buy insurance). This item from today's Kaiser Family Foundation report:

Former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) held a forum on Sunday in Portland, Ore., to launch a grass-roots organization that will work to "spark a national debate" on health care reform, the Oregonian reports. Kitzhaber, who served as Oregon governor from 1995 to 2003, has called for ending Medicaid and Medicare in the state and redirecting the public funds used for those programs toward providing basic coverage for all state residents. Kitzhaber and his supporters had worked to put a universal coverage proposal on the state ballot for fall 2006, but the group has abandoned the initiative and will instead work toward drafting a proposal for the 2007 state legislative session, Kitzhaber said. The forum, which included about 200 people, focused on brainstorming ideas to attract more people to Kitzhaber's organization, called the Archimedes Movement. The organization, which was founded in January, has raised about $180,000 and has about 800 to 900 supporters, Kitzhaber said. Kitzhaber said at the forum that the current health care system defies "logic and common sense" by paying more for emergency care than preventive care. "It's a policy that says, in effect, we won't ensure that all the women in our communities have access to good prenatal care, but we'll be happy to pay the cost of resuscitating a 500-gram infant in a neonatal intensive care unit," he said, adding, "That should not be acceptable to any of us."

Can anybody enlighten me as to why he chose Archimedes, a Greek mathematician, as the namesake for his movement?