Upcoming Events:
Important Updates:
Prepared for Oregon Association of Health Underwriters
May 27, 2010
Interim legislative committees met for three days this week, highlighted by release of a new revenue forecast, followed by across-the-board budget cuts. Here’s the latest.
Revenue forecast down; Governor cuts $562 million
The revenue forecast says the current biennium now has a $562 million deficit. So Gov. Kulongoski exercised his “allotment” authority that only allows him to cut budgets across-the-board. Agencies will have two weeks to let the Governor and legislature know how they will absorb these cuts.
Dept. of Human Services – $154 million
Dept. of Corrections – $50 million
Oregon Youth Authority – $11 million
Oregon State Police – $10 million
K-12 – $247 million
Universities – $30 million
Community Colleges – $20 million
“There will be layoffs, Gov. Kulongoski said. “We need to make tough policy calls to avoid a decade of deficits.”
Some of the cuts may be offset with federal funds, depending on what Congress does with the proposed Jobs Bill. The Governor says it could include as much as $200 million for DHS, $230 million for K-12 and $40 million for higher ed including universities and community colleges.
Republican legislators are pushing for a special session to balance the budget.
At this point, the legislature is scheduling another E-Board in June to finalize how agencies will make these across-the-board cuts.
Corporate Kicker to kick
At the same time state agencies are cutting budget to deal with the revenue shortfall, the state expects to be sending refund checks to Oregon businesses. Oregon’s economists say it’s very likely the Corporate Kicker will kick this year.
(Here’s how the kicker is calculated. Personal and corporate income taxes are accounted for separately. If revenues on either the personal or corporate side exceed the close-of-session forecast by two percent, all of the revenues above the forecast must be refunded.
We won’t know until fall exactly how large the refund will be, but if the current forecast holds about $20 million will be returned to corporations this year.
Oregon Prescription Drug Program enrollment grows
More than 314,265 Oregonians now receive discounted prescription drugs through the Oregon Prescription Drug Program (OPDP). Senate Rural Health and Human Services Committee chair Sen. Bill Morrisette (D-Springfield) is pleased with the growth but says the program still has not accomplished what he envisioned. “OPDP is essentially a drug discount program,” Morrisette said. “It was meant to be a bulk purchasing program.”
OPDP has combined with Washington to form the Northwest Consortium. Combined they have nearly 660,000 enrollees.
The largest group to join OPDP so far is the Oregon Educators Benefit Board (OEBB). OPDP is working with PEBB, the Medicaid Managed Care Organizations and local governments to see if it can save money on their prescription drugs. OPDP is also developing a statewide formulary for use by Medicaid fee-for-service providers beginning in January 2011.
Obesity report targets soda
Last year, Americans consumed the equivalent of 36 gallons of soda for every man, woman and child. Mel Kohn, MD, Director of the Public Health Division, told the House Health Committee that soda is “the most consumed food in America.”
This enormous consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks is given as one reason for the growing obesity epidemic as well as increases in diabetes and other health problems in addition to tooth decay.
The House Health Committee says it welcomes legislative proposals to address soda sales and obesity.
Hospital Acquired Infections Report
“Oregon hospitals are doing better than the national average (at preventing hospital acquired infections), in some cases much better,” Sean Kolmer from the Office for Oregon Health Policy and Research (OHPR) told the House Health Committee.
OHPR just released it first annual report on central line associated blood stream infections, surgical site infections and process measures hospitals use to prevent infections. All 58 Oregon hospitals contributed data for the report.
Kolmer says this reporting effort will position Oregon well to meet future federal quality and reimbursement reporting requirements. Oregon is one of ten states that publicly report hospital acquired infections.
For more information contact Doug Barber at doug@lobbyoregon.com or 541-221-3072.
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Thank you for another successful year. Our goal is to bring the most value to our members, providing continued education credits covering topics important to you, keeping you updated on the latest legislative changes impacting our industry, serving our community, and sending PAHU members to Washington D.C. to give our local industry a voice during this time of great change. As we prepare for the next year, it is time again to reflect on the 2009 accomplishments of your Portland Association of Health Underwriters (PAHU).
During 2009 we provided you the opportunity to earn 14 hours of continuing education credit. Our breakfast meetings covered such dynamic topics as ethics and liability issues in social media and our premier events January Half Day and Spring Forum brought you the opportunity to hear from and interact with local insurance executives and nationally renowned speakers such as Mac Bledsoe.
So much is going on in healthcare today; keeping our membership informed is our top priority. PAHU encouraged members to stay active through Operation Shout email messages, and members can continue to expect the latest legislative updates to be available on the PAHU website.
PAHU also donated time and financial support to improving our community. Recipients this year were Oregon Food Bank, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Gales Creek Foundation, CARES Northwest, and Providence Child Center.
PAHU was also able to send representatives to Capital Conference in Washington D.C. to lobby local representatives such as David Wu regarding health care issues.
We are so proud of our 2009 accomplishments but as we look to the future, we want to hear from you regarding how your PAHU board can better serve you. The contact information for all board members is available through this website under the “Board Members” link and we are also on Facebook under ‘Portland Association of Health Underwriters – PAHU’.
Please watch your email and continue visiting the PAHU website for valuable industry information and announcements regarding future events.
Sincerely,
Leigh Colgan
PAHU Awards Chair
(Arlington, VA)—Janet Trautwein, CEO of the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU), issued the following statement today on the passage of the health care bill:
“The high cost of health care is the primary problem with our current health care system and unfortunately the ‘Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’ (HR 3590) passed last night does little to truly rein in these costs. Health care costs are rising at an unsustainable rate, and if we don’t get these costs under control, we will no longer be able to deliver the top-notch medical care that most Americans enjoy today.
“HR 3590 also contains an unworkable individual mandate which will encourage people to wait until they are sick to purchase coverage, causing premiums to skyrocket significantly for everyone. Tens of billions of dollars in new insurer fees and taxes, expansion of Medicaid, tight limits on age rating and high minimum benefit levels will make private health insurance unaffordable for the hundreds of millions of Americans who are currently insured.
“Instead of alleviating the financial difficulties caused by the current economic situation, the legislation will continue to exacerbate the problem by driving up private health insurance costs significantly for millions of American families and businesses and disrupt the quality coverage on which millions of Americans rely. We have long advocated for members of Congress to work together in a bipartisan fashion to develop an affordable and responsible means of achieving the needed reforms to our nation’s health care delivery system, and unfortunately this was not the case last night when every Republican and dozens of Democrats voted against HR 3590.
“NAHU is committed to its continued work to promote measures that curbs costs, improve wellness, rein in frivolous lawsuits and expand consumer choice. We will continue to work with the administration and members of Congress to help minimize the potential health insurance cost increase due to the bill’s provisions so that Americans will continue to have access to the best medical care in the world at an affordable price.”
The National Association of Health Underwriters represents more than 100,000 professional health insurance agents and brokers who provide insurance for millions of Americans. For more information, please contact Kelly Loussedes, vice president of public relations at 703-276-3835 or kloussedes@nahu.org.
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