State Prepared to Lead if Feds Don't
"It's unclear if we'll follow federal directives, or we'll lead the effort," in terms of costs, coverage and quality, Goldberg told insurance company executives on Sept. 15. If lawmakers do enact national reform, "there'll be a pretty strong role for states to coordinate those reforms. If not, we'll step up to do it."
With the passage of House Bill 2009 last session, Goldberg's leading the effort to bring all of the state's healthcare programs under one roof, the Oregon Health Authority. That legislation called for the new agency to develop a plan for enforcing an individual mandate and guaranteed issue, which will not allow health insurers to deny coverage.
The Oregon legislature would then need to approve the policy in 2011 if Congress doesn't do so quicker. More than 800,000 Oregonians receive healthcare from state-supported programs.
"This new organization is perfectly poised, regardless," said Goldberg, who's intent on keeping healthcare costs affordable, while, at the same time, achieving high quality.
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Where does Dr. Goldberg plan to get sufficient nurses, medical social workers, and generalist physicians to move ahead with reform? The various meetings I've attended barely give a nod to workforce issues, and Dr. Goldberg answered at a recent meeting of PDX City Club that there is no ongoing dialog with OHSU School of Medicine on the topic.
Not having sufficient front-line workforce hampered the Massachusetts program even before the economic downturn. Oregon needs to make plans now to head off a Massachusetts repeat and the bad feeling and publicity it generated.
Fred Matthies, MD
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