First-quarter financial reports filed by Oregon’s major health insurance companies are providing a snapshot into which insurers are growing, which are shrinking – and how well the financial situation of each company tracks its membership shifts.
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Financial reports filed by Oregon’s major health insurance groups show shifts in enrollment, with Kaiser now serving the most small group and individuals – and also posting the deepest losses.
Jul 21 2017
Last-minute funding will provide for emergency housing assistance, Hepatitis C treatment and a short list of earmarks for clinic and hospital projects, including assistance for Cascade Aids Project’s new clinic.
The Legislature swept through a flurry of bills in the closing days of the session as the lawmakers approached their recess on Friday. Many of these came with little debate, but could still have profound effect on the health and well-being of Oregonians.
Jul 12 2017
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A million or more people could swell the state’s population during the Aug. 21 event, stressing rural health services, and creating sanitation risks. Health leaders across Oregon are bracing themselves for a massive influx of people later this summer, when a total solar eclipse can be viewed across a wide swathe of the state. There’s no simple template to prepare for the Aug. 21 event. Jul 18 2017 |
Data show variations in amounts paid for procedures
Salem -- Reimbursement for the same procedures vary among hospitals operating in the same region and across the state, according to a new report from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA). Jul 21 2017 |
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Coyner left voluntarily, the Oregon Health Authority says. Her departure after a year and a half in the job follows heavy criticism of the state’s Medicaid re-enrollment process. A year and a half after being named Oregon’s state Medicaid director, Lori Coyner has left state government—leaving David Simnitt, who has been the Oregon Health Authority’s health policy director, to fill the role on an interim basis until a new Medicaid director is hired. Jul 18 2017 |
Small businesses and individuals who buy their own health insurance can now see the final approved rates for 2018 health insurance plans. Jul 21 2017 |
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Even as Democratic lawmakers celebrate new laws providing healthcare to immigrant kids and raising the age of purchasing tobacco, a continued fight over the provider tax dampens enthusiasm over the 2017 session. The Oregon Legislature passed sweeping legislation around reproductive health, tobacco prevention and drug sentencing reform, but other priorities, such as protecting the state’s investment in Medicaid, protecting the environment and ensuring that hospitals deserve their tax-exempt status sputter Jul 12 2017 |
Check out our other great jobs from Oregon Department of Justice, National University of Natural Medicine, Sequoia Mental Health Services, Multnomah County, Oregon Medical Association, PH TECH, and more. FamilyCare Health is a Medicare and Medicaid managed care organization that coordinates medical, behavioral health and dental care for more than 120,000 Oregonians. Jul 20 2017 |
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As one senator’s health care emergency upended what was supposed to be an action-packed week for the Senate health care bill, Capitol Hill’s denizens began rebooking Monday. Jul 18 2017 |
Two consumer protection laws are designed to ensure quality and integrity among healthcare providers and agencies assisting Oregon seniors. Strong bipartisan majorities have passed two bills to protect seniors, putting new quality controls into long-term care facilities and requiring referral agencies to register and act in their client’s interest. Jul 7 2017 |
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The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems successfully lobbied to kill a measure to pay property taxes on clinics, a bill expanding hours at ambulatory surgery centers and a measure to make nonprofit hospitals to pay more on charity care -- but intense lobbying failed to block an end to price-gouging at OEBB and PEBB. Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin, overcame fierce lobbying from the hospital industry to shepherd a cost-containment bill through the Senate, saving the state $1 billion over the next decade, in part by eliminating hospital price-gouging of the health plans of state workers and teachers. Jul 7 2017 |
In a ninth-inning victory for public health advocates, the Tobacco 21 bill resurfaced in the Oregon House, raising the age for the sale of cigarettes, but not the age of possession. The tobacco lobby hired former Sen. Margaret Carter to derail the bill. The Oregon House of Representatives broke a legislative logjam and passed Senate Bill 754, which raises the legal age for the sale of tobacco and e-cigarettes to 21, on a 39-20 vote. Jul 7 2017 |
 Sen. Jackie Winters silenced her colleagues with a speech saying that the War on Drugs amounts to institutional racism. The Oregon House of Representatives approved two bills on Tuesday that mark a dramatic shift in the government’s attitudes toward drugs and addictions, decriminalizing possession of small amounts of six hard drugs and lowering the penalty in some cases from a felony to a misdemeanor. Jul 6 2017 |
Rep. Julie Parrish is threatening to derail the provider tax, which was negotiated behind closed doors with the healthcare industry, requiring it to come up with most of the state’s matching funds to draw down federal money to support the Oregon Health Plan -- and continue a critical flow of money to hospitals. Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn, is threatening a ballot referendum to overturn the new funding mechanism for the Oregon Health Plan, saying she doesn’t support taxes on health insurance, although she did support an insurance tax just four years ago. Jul 4 2017 |
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State officials say they hope to convince some health insurance companies to return – especially to Douglas, Lane, Lincoln and Tillamook counties, where Providence is the only company offering individual plans on marketplace exchanges next year. Rural Oregonians will have fewer health insurance options than ever in 2018, unless state officials are able to lure back companies that have opted to leave many small regions behind. Jul 3 2017 |
 With a 33-23 vote, Oregon is leading the way in the opposite direction of most of America, as the state’s Democrats try to make it as easy as possible for women to make their own choices about reproductive healthcare. The Oregon House passed the reproductive health bill, 33-23, sending to the Senate a controversial but hard-fought bill for women’s healthcare access that would close gaps in coverage to contraceptives and abortion Jul 3 2017 |
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An eight-year battle by the Oregon Latino Health Coalition is nearing an end, as the state plans to spend $36 million covering the last 17,600 uninsured children in the state, undocumented immigrants.
The Senate passed the Cover All Kids Act on a 21-8 vote Monday, with four Republicans joining all the Democrats to ensure that all children living in Oregon will have access to health insurance, regardless of where they were born. Jul 3 2017 |
After a summer hiatus, the Oregon Health Forum will return on Aug. 23 with a exploration of how to break down the wall between K-12 funding and healthcare budgets. Millions of education dollars are being spent delivering healthcare in schools across Oregon – from insulin injections offered by a teacher, to mental health counseling at a high school, to a school nurse working with a medically fragile child. Jun 16 2017 |