[UPDATED] Oregon SB 99: Insurance Exchange
June 7th Update SB 99A passed the Oregon House today. Having passed the Senate on April 25, it now awaits the Governor's signature. You can read a report in the Salem Statesman-Journal. The major questions being debated were: should employees of insurers and/or health...
ALL Kids Should be Part of Healthy Kids Program
Our colleagues at the Oregon Latino Health Coalition and CAUSA are asking for our help. We hope you'll support work to assure that all kids are eligible for the state's Healthy Kids program. Please join us in saying that ALL KIDS should have an equal opportunity to be...
Rare Public Hearing Being Held on Insurer Rate Request
Regence has requested a 22% rate increase in its individual and small group product which currently includes about 60,000 Oregonians. All rate increase requests are public information, but are often written in a way that is incomprehensible unless you happen to be an...
[UPDATED] Oregon SB 97: Culturally Competent Health Providers
Senate Bill 97, if it had passed, would have started a collaborative process between the Oregon Health Authority (through the Office of Multicultural Health and Services) and the various health care licensing boards in the state to come up with standards for cultural...
Medicare 101
It’s up to us to keep the Medicare rhetoric based in reality. Do you know its benefits and shortcomings? Can you distinguish between what Medicare covers and your supplemental coverage? Not on Medicare and need a refresher? Here is a link to a great 101 on Medicare -...
On the Road to Transformation
We are stuck between a rock and a very hard place. We acknowledge that today’s system does not work – not for providers, payers, patients or taxpayers. Yet, when new ideas are proposed, we hold on tight to the way things are, saying ‘yes we know things are bad, but...
Community Health Workers
To those who are interested in the role of Community Health Workers (CHW's) in Oregon's health care system I wanted to bring up an issue that was discussed by the House/Senate Joint Health Transformation Committee on Wednesday evening (May 4th). There is a provision...
Laughter May Be a Medicine After All!
The power of laughter and music on one's health was studied by a group of Japanese researchers. They found indications that laughter and music contributed to lower blood pressure. Referring to their results, Dr. Miller, director of preventive cardiology at the...
Up to $242B in Health Costs of Coal
Valerie Davis, CEO of EnviroMedia Social Marketing, summarized a recent report, "Full Cost Accounting for the Life Cycle of Coal" (in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences). The article describes all of the ways that coal impacts our society and our health...
Q&A on Oregon’s Health Insurance Exchange
On March 22nd, 2011, two staff from the Oregon Health Authority joined us to answer questions about plans for an Oregon Health Insurance Exchange - Jeremy Vandehey (Community Engagement Coordinator) and Gregory Olivette (Policy Analyst). The video is a little over an...
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