6/25/2009
Oregon legislature passes health care reform for children and poor
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SALEM — Health reform passed in the Oregon Legislature this month, providing insurance coverage for most children and more low-income adults.
“In hard times, when many states have been forced to roll back health care coverage for their citizens, I am proud that Oregon has been able to take the lead in health care reform and expand access to care,” said Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who will sign the legislation.
Kulongoski called the package the largest expansion of coverage since the state’s health plan for the poor was enacted two decades ago. The governor has long pushed for what he called “healthy kids” reform, saying that declining coverage and rising health costs have become a burden to working families and businesses alike.
Lawmakers say the pair of bills will cover 80,000 more children and 35,000 more adults, while creating 3,500 health care jobs in the state and keeping health care costs in check.
“We accomplished the dual goal of helping Oregon’s children and improving the Oregon economy,” said Rep. Mary Nolan, a Portland Democrat who helped negotiate the package of legislation.
House Bills 2116 and 2009, passed by both House and Senate, also enforce cost containment, a move aimed at helping businesses, which pay the bulk of health care costs.
The state will cover the full cost of insurance for children in families making less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. That’s about $44,000 a year for a family of four. The state will pay part of the coverage for families between 200 percent and 300 percent of poverty level.
Parents were getting set to enroll their children. Meanwhile, Oregon still has an estimated 600,000 uninsured residents.
The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems supported the reform package, which has larger hospitals paying a fee to support the program. Those payments also will attract about $2 billion in federal money over the next four years.
Rep. Tina Kotek, a Democrat from North Portland, says hospitals helping pay for the plan will get their money back and more because of the expansion of coverage and increased reimbursements. As it now stands, about 10 percent of premium costs are linked to paying for uncompensated care, Kotek says.
Some lawmakers criticized the bills for putting a burden on the hospitals and taking a step toward government-controlled healthcare.
But the voices of supporters were numerous and jubilant.
“These bills help ensure that our children receive the health care services they need,” said House Speaker Dave Hunt. “We’ll also be able to add thousands of jobs to the health care industry in a time of great economic distress.”
The Oregon Health Fund Board, established by the 2007 Legislature to develop reform, held that expanding coverage without controlling costs is unsustainable. Board vice chair Eileen Brady says Oregon has now taken a lead in what may well be addressed in national healthcare legislation.
Cost-containment measures include a statewide database of health care claims by all medical providers, an increased focus on preventive care, more reporting on spending required for hospitals and insurance regulators, streamlined procedures and investments in technology.
The legislation comes two years after Oregon voters rejected a tax on tobacco that would have provided funds to insure all children.
The reform will be welcome news to some cancer patients. One in four people currently receiving cancer care in the U.S. has held back on treatment in the past year because of cost concerns, says a poll from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
The poll also said that one in three people under age 65 who have been diagnosed with cancer has been uninsured at some point since their diagnosis.
More than one in five families surveyed has used up all or most of its savings.
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