Health care: Access, high costs an important Presidential issue, too
Continued from page 1
benefit package to 24,000 clients by
next June. In the past summer, there
were about 55,000 people on the
plan. The plan covers clients who do
not qualify for the federal Medicaid.
“The numbers are going down,”
DHS spokesman Jim Sellers said.
"We’re not taking any new enroll
ments. ” Sellers said about one in sev
en Oregonians does not have health
care coverage.
“Clearly what we have is what I
call an access problem,” Democratic
state senate candidate Floyd
Prozanski said, adding that individ
uals who are in real need of health
care may have been bumped off the
Oregon Health Plan or do not quali
fy for the plan.
"We need to expand health care
services to the most vulnerable and
that would include seniors, the dis
abled and children,” Prozanski said.
He added that it is vital to promote
preventative type of care “because it
saves us all money.”
Recognizing the state's financial
crunch, Prozanski said there is a
need to maximize on available tax
dollars to provide adequate care.
Apart from advocating for afford
ability, in the past, Prozanski has also
voted for reduced costs for prescrip
tion drugs as well as the creation of a
bulk purchasing program for pre
scription drugs to lower the health
care costs incurred by state agencies
and low-income seniors, according to
his campaign Web site.
On the other hand, Republican
state senate candidate Norm Thomas
said in the long term, the most effec
tive way to address the high costs of
health care is to create health care
savings efforts.
“In the short term we have to help
people,” he said, adding that the eld
erly are especially in need of aid to
cover escalating costs.
Thomas said he was not sure
exactly how this aid would be imple
merited, adding that it would depend
on how the state budget is used. He
said too much is being spent on dif
ferent things and the budget needs to
be streamlined to cut down waste.
“There’s a lot of work to be done
and we have legislature that hasn’t
worked very hard on that for some
reason," he said.
Congress and Senate
candidates
Democratic U.S Senate candidate
Ron Wyden said one of the biggest is
sues in health care is millions of Amer
icans without health insurance and an
aging baby boom generation placing
increasing demands on a health care
system already short of funds.
“I think everyone should be enti
tled to quality, affordable health care,
which is why 1 passed bipartisan leg
islation to give all Americans — not
just the lobbyists for HMOs and drug
companies — the strongest voice in
finally achieving health care reform,”
he said in an e-mail statement.
Wyden said he is also working to
pass legislation to ensure an afford
able drug benefit for all seniors on
Medicare through his bipartisan leg
islation to create bargaining power
authority for seniors, encourage
drug re-importation and watchdog
drug prices.
Republican U.S Senate candidate
Al King said he is especially worried
about young families and their ability
to afford health care, adding that in
the current system some people un
fairly subsidize health care costs for
others who cannot afford it.
“It’s very tough to have an afford
able health plan that covers the
whole family,” he said.
He suggested that everyone start
their own health savings plan to
cater for their needs. King also said
he has a three-point plan to reform
the health care industry. He said he
wants to tackle malpractice suits
with large settlements, where attor
Alumnus: Green spoke about
energy at University last Thursday
Continued from page 1
because we hadn’t discovered oil yet.”
Green spoke fondly about his time
in Australia.
“Someone gave me a book about
thorn birds and they are the epitome
of an Aussie,” Green said. “If I had
to go into Thailand I’d go get two
Aussies before 1 went, not
“I wanted to be where there were
no people,” Green said. “After being
in the Air Force with a hydrogen
bomb on my back, worried I’d have
to obliterate Moscow, I thought peo
ple were crazy. ”
Green said his aspiration toward
geology began when he worked in a
logging camp in Washington. At age
neys “rip off” the patients. He
added that he also wants to put an
end to “end-of-life heroics” where a
patient’s life is prolonged with ma
chines even when there is no
chance of revival, citing that these
tactics can be very expensive.
“Those huge costs are being
transferred to younger people,” he
said. Finally, King said he wants to
reduce doctors’ and nurses’ govern
ment paperwork burden, so that
they have more time to do what
they were hired to do.
King said there is a need for more
common sense solutions that do not
always require spending more money
“I’m not in favor of saying ‘we’ve
got a crises, let’s throw some money
on it,”’ he said.
Jim Feldkamp, Republican candi
date for Congress, also is concerned
about the cost of malpractice suits to
the health care industry. Feldkamp’s
spokesman Scott Jorgensen said
there is a need for court reform.
“The way the system is right now
is that it’s too easy to file frivolous
lawsuits,” Jorgensen said, adding
that there are some doctors in Oregon
who are “one lawsuit away from
closing their doors.”
Jorgensen said lawsuits are driving
up insurance costs and there should
be limits on large settlements given.
Jorgensen said Feldkamp believes
one way to tackle the issue of access
is to improve business and economy.
He said if businesses are successful,
then they are in a better position to
provide good insurance packages for
their employees.
On the Democratic side, candidate
for U.S. Congress Peter DeFazio said
having the best health care system in
the world is not enough.
“If people can’t access it, if they
can’t afford it, it doesn’t do them any
good," he said. He added lack of cov
erage forces people who don’t have
insurance to wait until they have a
crisis and then it is even harder and
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more expensive to treat.
DeFazio proposes that every
American has a basic insurance
package, which can be paid for on a
sliding scale and with the govern
ment helping to pay for those who
can least afford it.
He said there also needs to be re
form in the pharmaceutical industry.
Citing the high costs of drugs in the
nation, DeFazio says there should be
policy changes that would enable
Americans to get FDA approved
drugs from other countries.
Apart from his support in Con
gress to increase funding for
HIV/AIDS programs, DeFazio said
he is also the principal sponsor of a
bill to provide legal access to alter
native medicines.
“It’s a way to reduce health care
costs,” he said.
The national scene
Health spending takes up a huge
chunk of the U.S. economy — an
estimated $1.6 trillion was spent in
2002, according the Kaiser Family
Foundation Web site. But about 45
million Americans do not have
health coverage, making access to
health care a key concern for many
voters. Both President Bush and
Senator Kerry have outlined plans
to improve the health care system
nationally.
In his “Agenda for America,” Bush
said health care in America needs to
be reformed.
"We must build a modern, innova
tive health care system that gives pa
tients more options and fewer orders
and strengthens the doctor-patient re
lationship,” Bush said in his plan.
The President plans to implement
several programs including a bil
lion-dollar campaign to extend cov
erage for children. Bush also wants
a tax credit for low-income families
to purchase health insurance or
to purchase a low-premium,
high-deductible health plan and a
bealthsavings plan — the families
will get up to $2,000 for their premi
jms and $1,000 for their health ac
:ounts. Other plans include allow
ing small businesses to band
together to be able to negotiate bet
ter rates from insurance companies.
According to the plan, Bush also
wants to open or expand 1,200
health centers to 6.1 million more
Americans by 2006, especially in
jnder-served communities. During
nis term, the president has also
signed a new Medicare bill to pro
vide better benefits to seniors and
people with disabilities and has in
:reased funding for abstinence and
drug testing in schools. The full
plan is available at www.george
3ush.com.
Sen. John Kerry also has a plan
which “stops spiraling costs, pro
vides coverage for 95 percent of
Americans, covers all children (and)
allows Americans the same health
:are plan as members of Congress.”
Part of the plan includes making pre
scription drugs more affordable by
getting rid of loopholes in patent laws
;hat keep cheaper generic alterna
tes off the market.
Kerry also plans to reduce mal
aractice litigation that is “meritless”
ay among other things, inhibiting in
dividuals from filing suits unless a
qualified specialist determines that a
easonable claim exists.
However, Kerry said he does not
relieve in placing caps on damages in
:he malpractice suits.
Kerry also wants to cut health ad
ministrative costs in half through
:he use of technology, such as pri
vate electronic medical records and
he use of modern computerized
methods for health transactions.
Kerry’s full plan is available at
www.johnkerry.com/issues/health
_care/health_care.html
ayishayahya@dailyemerald. com
Americans,” Green said.
“They worked through
the day.” He added that
Australians are a major
part of the ExxonMobil
company now.
Green grew up in
Washington and lived in
the Puget Sound area. He
got his bachelor’s degree
in geology from Washing
ton State University in
ART GREEN
Graduated: 1962
Degree earned: Master's
in geology
Big issues on campus at
the time: Palestinians and
Israelis, and the Cold War was
at its peak.
Involved in: Spent time doing
field work in Eastern Oregon
iu, uiccn Daiu lie
had the idea that in
geology, he could
climb mountains.
Since retiring from
ExxonMobil, Green
has joined the lecture
circuit. Last Thurs
day Green returned
to the University to
give a free public talk
focused on the ener
1956. Following his graduation he
spent three years in the Air Force,
where he said he saved money for
graduate school. He added that
when he left the Air Force he had
planned to go to graduate school in
Washington until a professor told
him that would be taking the “easy
way out” because the University of
Oregon taught soft-rock geology
while Washington State only taught
hard rock geology, which Green had
already studied.
During his two years at the Uni
versity of Oregon, Green spent most
of his time doing field work and
mapping in the surrounding areas of
Eugene.
gy uuiiuuiv iui me nexi iu years, ac
cording to a University press release.
Green will be giving 10 lectures this
fall and another 10 in February.
Also, as a trustee of the American
Geological Institute, he will be in
volved in a four-part series airing on
the Discovery channel about the
evolution of planet earth.
While on the lecture circuit, Green
has been accompanied by his wife
of two years, Ann.
“He was busy traveling and I got
another degree,” Ann Green said.
“We were both busy with our ca
reers for a long time. ”
canelawood@ daily emerald, com
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