Judy Mohr Peterson

Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Portland, released a bill Tuesday that could allow parents who qualify for Cover Oregon subsidies to take their kids out of the Oregon Health Plan and instead buy subsidized insurance on the exchange for them.

HB 3309 would allow the Oregon Health Authority director to kick off a CCO member and lower its compensation. Rep. Brian Clem said he filed the bill to end a court battle in his district that threatens the entire CCO model.

April 12, 2012—A presentation about the number of organizations intending to become coordinated care organizations (CCOs) by August drew little discussion from the Oregon Health Policy Board on Tuesday.The authority received 47 letters of intent from every county and area of the state. “We look at that as being an enthusiastic response,” Judy Mohr Peterson, the authority’s director of medical assistance programs, told the board. “We have a lot of interest.”

A fund-raising event and public hearing on the controversy occurred on the same day, raising eyebrows.