OHP Contractors Among Top Donors to Kitzhaber

October 6, 2010 -- Democrat John Kitzhaber continued to gain far more contributions from the healthcare industry and its top executives than Republican Chris Dudley in the race for Oregon governor.

 

Dudley, meanwhile, raised nearly $5.7 million to Kitzhaber’s $3.7 million, based on the most recent filing deadline. Going forward, until the Nov. 2 election, candidates will now report campaign contributions weekly.

 

Leading the donors to the Kitzhaber campaign were several groups representing Medicaid managed care plans that administer the Oregon Health Plan.

 

The Coalition for a Healthy Oregon, which represents nine Medicaid plans, has given Kitzhaber $125,250 to date. Doctors for Healthy Communities, based in Salem, has donated $125,000, while Douglas County Physicians PAC, another Medicaid plan, gave him $75,000.

 

"Our aim is to elect a governor that supports the Oregon Health Plan and knows something about healthcare," said Jeff Heatherington, president of FamilyCare, an OHP contractor and COHO member. "Dudley has not spoken about it and has not reached out to anybody in the healthcare field, and that concerns us."

 

Heatherington said funds to support the political action committee come out of each organization's administrative budget.

 

Groups representing nursing homes, nurses, dentists and hospitals also topped the list of healthcare donors to the Kitzhaber campaign. In addition, Kitzhaber enjoys the support of many of the top healthcare executives in the state representing hospitals, insurance carriers, doctors and public officials.

 

On Dudley’s side of the ledger, the Oregon Health Care Association tops his list of healthcare supporters with a $50,000 donation. The group also gave $50,000 to Kitzhaber.

 

Dudley earned most of his contributions from individuals. He also enjoys support from Pfizer, Novartis Pharmaceuticals and the national Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Regence BlueCross BlueShield and its CEO Mark Ganz.

 

But none of Dudley’s healthcare donors come close to matching the three-figure donations earned by the Kitzhaber camp.

 

It’s no wonder Kitzhaber has strong support from the healthcare industry. A former emergency room physician from Roseburg, he’s largely seen as the architect of the Oregon Health Plan during his tenure as Senate President in the 1990s. And for the past several years, he’s led the Archimedes Movement, which pushed for national healthcare reform.

 

If elected, Kitzhaber has said he wants to apply for federal waivers so the state can have more flexibility on how it spends those healthcare dollars. He also believes the federal reform law signed by President Obama earlier this year focused too much on how we pay for healthcare and not enough on delivery system reform and cutting costs.

 

Although Dudley has offered few specifics on how he’d improve healthcare in Oregon, both candidates have signaled they’re willing to look at cost sharing for public employee health benefits to help pay for a burgeoning $3.3 billion deficit next biennium.

 

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