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Posted on 06/09/2009 6:26:27 AM PDT by FrankRMD
Oregon Socialized Health Care: There They Go Again
On Monday, June 8, 2009 the Oregon Legislature will begin debate on HB 2009-C, “Oregon’s 21st Century Health Care System”. Of course, Oregon’s brilliant governor and the liberal yahoos in the Oregon legislature completely ignore the fact that the Oregon Health Plan, “Oregon’s 20th Century Health Care Plan”, was a complete failure. Liberals are very constructive. They construct each new failure on the foundation of preceding failures. They drive ever forward, looking straight ahead, never looking back. Pedal to the metal all the way, damn the brakes and never look at the reflection in the rear view mirror. They never have the baggage, or the benefit, of hindsight. I honestly believe that my dog can reflect on how his past actions have affected his current situation better than liberals can. I thought of Ronald Reagan when he responded to Jimmy Carter: “There you go again.”
The Oregon Health Plan (OHP), a supposed solution to health care for the uninsured, was conceived by Dr. John Kitzhaber, a former emergency department physician and Dr. Ralph Crenshaw, a liberal activist physician most notable for his support of bicycle paths. Dr. Kitzhaber promoted the plan initially as a state senator and later as governor. The OHP put Oregon on the map as a national “leader” in health care reform. It went into effect in 1994 with blessings and praise from President Clinton and our current Secretary of State. The cost of the health plan increased from $1.3 billion in 1995 to $2.4 billion in 2001, nearly doubling in only six years. Initial enrollment was 120,000, dropping to 51,000 by 2004, when enrollment was discontinued for the standard plan. In 2008, over 30,000 people registered for 3,000 openings. The OHP devised a system of rationing and excluded certain procedures and diagnoses that fell below an arbitrary cost to benefit level. It proposed to cover more people with health care by covering fewer services, using a number called the “Net Benefit Value Ratio”. This meant that life threatening conditions such as thumb sucking were covered, but relatively minor conditions, such as HIV, were not.
The Oregon Health plan was far from transparent, and attempts to understand it were often met with frustration. The covered services list was, as is that of Medicare and Medicaid, a moving target. Patients would see their doctors for a problem only to find out later that it was not covered and the doctor or hospital would find out by not being paid. In 2002, the OHP was modified, with a Medicaid expansion to 185% of the poverty level and the cutting of benefits to others in the plan. In 2008, Barbara Wagner, 64, of Springfield, Ore., was denied lifesaving chemotherapy under the plan but was offered $50 to pay a doctor to kill her under the state’s “Death with Dignity” law, a very pleasant cost saving feature that was hoped would help to keep the cost of the OHP down. Unfortunately, few people were willing to sacrifice their lives for $50 or for the plan’s fiscal health. When attempts at perpetual tax increases failed as the system became overly complex, it ultimately became an expensive failure.
Now the geniuses who supported the OHP are at it again. HB 2009-C is huge. Comprising over 600 pages, it is another one of those “pass without reading” bills we have come to know and love. “It creates 15 new bureaucracies that include boards, commissions, committees, councils and cooperatives that will supervise and administer a total of 24 programs, funds, accounts, databases and services.” It creates a health care Czar and a new health department, the “Oregon Health Authority” (OHA). The OHA will be given substantial power to regulate the health insurance industry in the state. It will be authorized to “develop a program to provide health insurance premium assistance to all low and moderate income individuals who are legal residents of Oregon.” People of moderate income will be getting insurance paid for by those of lower income. Brilliant!
“Supporters of HB 2009-C have expressed support for subsidized health care for those earning 300% or even 350% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).” A family with three children could be earning over $70,000 yearly and be eligible for the new plan. The cost for coverage of around 120,000 Oregonians was over $2 billion under the OHP and there are now around 500,000 uninsured Oregonians. The cost of the new plan will therefore be astronomical. Oregon has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation. Oregon already has a budget shortfall of $750 million to $1 billion and cannot even afford to fund its schools.
Additionally, the bill states: “In consultation with the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, [OHA shall] periodically review and recommend standards and methodologies to the Legislative Assembly for: (A) Review of administrative expenses of health insurers; (B) Approval of rates; and (C) Enforcement of rating rules adopted by the Department of Consumer and Business Services;” Section 26 of HB 2009-C exempts activities of insurers working under the direction of the OHA from Oregon laws outlawing conspiracies, monopolies, and price fixing. The law will specifically protect government agencies and their directors from charges when they break the law! The OHA will be able to regulate the rates of private insurers while marketing its plans in direct competition with them. These actions will effectively drive the health insurance industry out of Oregon, leaving the government plan as a monopolistic oligarchy controlling all health care payment and delivery in the state. Then, the offer of $50 to kill yourself will be an offer you cannot refuse!
Oregon used to be overwhelmingly conservative. There was a brief bit of territorial hubris in 1868, some temporary insanity during the FDR years and a vote for LBJ in 1964 in sympathetic reaction to the assassination of JFK. Other than these few cases, Oregon had voted overwhelmingly Republican in presidential elections from 1860 until 1988. Oregon even voted for Richard Nixon three times; over John F. Kennedy in 1960, then in 1968 and 1972. Oregon cast its electoral votes for Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter in 1976. After voting to elect Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, Oregon went to the dark side in 1988, when it threw its support behind Massachusetts governor and part time tank commander George Dukakis. It has been on a downhill slide ever since. For what happened to Oregon and other conservative states those interested can look here http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=96300.
The liberal ideologues in the Oregon legislature and Governor Ted Kulongoski have proven they do not know how to run a state, but they do know how to run a state into the ground. I congratulate them on staying true to their liberal ideology and following California into budgetary suicide. Who would have thought that the same thinking that supported state sanctioned suicide would eventually lead to suicide of the state itself? Conservatives, that’s who would have thought that and warned of it from the start. But, we have the benefit of hindsight and reflection, like my dog and unlike liberals. Frank S. Rosenbloom, M.D. President of Oregon Right to Life http://summacontraprobus.blogspot.com/
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The sick thing is that the hospitals and insurance companies are on board with this.
That bill went down in flames...80% voted against it.
Portland didn’t get their Klingon interpreter, either. lol
We don’t want it, Frank.
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Oregon citizens are in for a rough time...
Be Ever Vigilant!
I think the only idiot needing a Klingon interpreter is Rep. Wu. He was the one claiming that there were Klingons in the White House a couple of years ago. They just don’t come any dumber than that guy.
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