Health Equity

CareOregon. | COURTESY OF CAREOREGON

Q&A: CEOs defend CareOregon merger plans, balk at specifics

Leaders of a California-based Medicare Advantage plan called SCAN Group and CareOregon, the Portland-based insurer that oversees government-funded care for 500,000 low-income Oregonians, said criticisms of their proposed merger don't recognize its benefits or the risks of inaction. The companies haven't disclosed long-term plans due to antitrust rules, they said — but growth is the goal.

Jan 9, 2024

Portland, Oregon. | SHUTTERSTOCK

Even without a pandemic, health care was wild in 2023

It was a year in which the health care community had hoped to recuperate. Instead, Oregon and southwest Washington saw major changes affecting workers, patients, insurers, state officials and health systems.

Dec 21, 2023

PIXABAY

The state’s climate benefit for low-income Oregonians is shrinking

State officials failed to persuade the federal government to embrace changes to an agreement around a climate-related devices such as air conditioners, and now are planning a scaled-down program for March

Nov 30, 2023
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Ray Anthony sits at their desk inside Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette's clinic on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Portland on Sept. 15, 2023. | EMILY GREEN/THE LUND REPORT

Gender-affirming care can be a ‘dice game;’ this navigator tries to improve the odds

Nearly a year into the job, Ray Anthony sees hope and opportunities for improvement in a state that features some of the most protective laws in the nation

Sep 21, 2023
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COURTESY OF SAINT ALPHONSUS.

Prospects of saving Baker City hospital birth center fade

Elected officials say hospital owner Trinity Health is backtracking on staffing to continue obstetrics unit at Saint Alphonsus

Aug 14, 2023
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PIXABAY

Multnomah County dentists picket over proposal to increase patient numbers

Dentists at the county's safety-net dental clinics use lighter schedules one day a week to catch up on paperwork and tackle tougher cases; now they say the county wants to end that practice.

Aug 10, 2023
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