The Oregon Government Ethics Commission fined James Raussen the maximum amount for numerous violations, including a night in Las Vegas, wine tasting, a Portland Trail Blazer playoff game and lavish meals.
The director of the Oregon Educators Benefit Board was mysteriously put on leave in September and quietly resigned last week. The Oregon Health Authority won’t provide any answers as to why they gave James Raussen a six-figure salary to oversee a $720 million contract overhaul only to let him go in less than a year.
The Oregon Educators Benefit Board is redoing its contract, hoping to reduce medical inflation for school districts by asking insurers to do a better job coordinating care. The contract may be Moda’s to lose, since it currently provides care to most teachers. But Kaiser and Providence could be added in certain counties, and Regence and UnitedHealthCare also have competitive statewide bids.
State educators and others insured through the Oregon Educators Benefit Board have been migrating heavily toward catastrophic and coordinated care health plans offered by Moda Health. OEBB has encouraged this movement through lower premiums and copayments. Meanwhile, OEBB director James Raussen was suspended with pay last month.
The Oregon Educators Benefit Board is sticking with its chosen new director, James Raussen, after an article last month in The Lund Report forced a special executive session of the board before its regular scheduled meeting Tuesday.
The Oregon Educators Benefit Board will not have a better designed health contract in place before the 2017-2018 school year, raising questions about whether the health plan for teachers will be able to keep medical cost inflation anywhere near the 3.4 percent cap set by the Legislature.
The Oregon Educators Benefit Board has delayed its request for new proposals until early July because it needs more time to develop the scoring methodology and analyze the performance and review standards.
