opinion
january18
2018
3
An Opinion: Vote YES on Measure 101
By Scott Laird
Oregon voters are being asked
to approve or reject Measure 101 in a
Special Election on January 23.
The Measure would approve
or reject parts of House Bill (HB) 2391
that creates a temporary tax on insur-
ance companies, managed care organi-
zations, and some hospitals as a way to
fund health care for low income adults,
children, families, and individuals with
disabilities. HB 2391 would also pro-
vide funding to stabilize health insur-
ance premiums for Oregon families.
If voters reject Measure 101, as
many as 350,000 Oregon Health Plan
patients will lose access to coverage and
some of Oregon’s most vulnerable citi-
zens could find themselves without ac-
cess to medical care, prescriptions, and
other benefits they depend on daily. As
many as 1 million Oregonians could be
impacted, including 400,000 children,
pregnant women, babies, and foster
children.
Funding for HB 2391 has al-
ready been approved in the last Oregon
budget. If Measure 101 fails that fund-
ing would disappear, the state budget
would be underfunded, and legislators
will be forced to go back to the drawing
board and find a way to make the cuts
needed to balance the budget.
HB 2391 is a tax on hospitals,
yet community hospitals across the state
are in support of Measure 101. The list
of other groups who have come out in
support of Measure 101 is wide ranging
and covers Oregonians from all walks
of life, including Oregon nurses, pedia-
tricians and other physicians, women’s
rights organizations, local unions, chil-
dren’s rights groups, health care advo-
cates, senior citizen groups, educators,
faith-based groups, consumer advo-
cates, and human rights organizations.
The groups speaking out against
Measure 101 mostly appear to be indi-
viduals and anti-tax advocates.
Increasing health care costs
continue to be a major concern for citi-
zens across our state and our nation. Grid
lock in our federal government contin-
ues and our representatives in Washing-
ton appear to be failing to find any real
solution to the issue, while threatening
health coverage for children, the elderly,
and the disabled.
Until the federal government
decides to make health care coverage
for all our citizens a priority, it is up to
individual states to provide protections.
Approval of Measure 101 tells Oregon’s
most vulnerable citizens that we see
them and we care about them.
Please join me in voting YES
on Measure 101.
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
503-367-0098
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Contributors
Chip Bubl
Tobie Finzel
Karen Kain
Dr. Carol McIntyre
Aaron Miller
Karen Miller
Shannon Romtvedt
Photography
Lily Buchanan
Scott Laird
Bonamici Leads Opioid Crisis
Discussion in Multnomah County
Congresswoman brings together
Multnomah County District
Attorney Underhill, Sheriff
Reese, health care providers,
and people in recovery
Congresswoman Suzanne Bon-
amici (D-OR) convened a discussion
about the toll of the opioid crisis with
Commissioner Sharon Meieran, health
care providers, treatment specialists,
school counselors, people in recovery,
Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Re-
ese, and District Attorney Rod Under-
hill.
“The opioid crisis is taking lives
and tearing apart families. We must do
more to confront it directly,” said Con-
gresswoman Suzanne Bonamici. “Peo-
ple from all walks of life and all parts
of Oregon tell me heart-wrenching sto-
ries of loved ones lost to addiction. It’s
important that we hear their stories and
learn from them, and also hear from
health care providers, treatment provid-
ers, law enforcement, and people in re-
covery about their efforts to break the
cycle of addiction. There is no single so-
lution. Local, state, and federal officials
must cooperate to address this crisis.”
“We’ve made important strides
but have much work to do – today’s
meeting put the right people at the table
to help chart our next important steps in
addressing the opioid crisis,” said Eliza-
beth White, OrCRM Project Manager at
Lines for Life. “Rep. Bonamici is using
the leadership and convening capacity
of her office to help us all roll up our
sleeves and reach our objectives in our
efforts to reduce the number of opioids
in circulation, improve pain manage-
ment, and expand access to addiction
treatment and Naloxone. We are glad to
be part of this important forum.”
“As the opioid epidemic con-
tinues to dramatically increase in terms
of human cost and health care expense,
no greater need exists in this region
than for housing units to empower in-
dividuals with substance use disorders
to break the cycle of drug and alcohol
use and homelessness,” said Andy Men-
denhall, MD, Central City Concern’s
Senior Medical Director for Substance
Use Disorder Services. “Folks simply
cannot recover when they are sleeping
outside.”
This was the third discussion
the Congresswoman has convened on
the opioid crisis, following similar
events in Clatsop and Yamhill counties.
She will hold discussions in Colum-
bia and Washington Counties later this
month.
The Congresswoman supports
several pieces of legislation designed to
address the opioid crisis:
• The Addiction Treatment Access Im-
One year subscription
(24 issues) $35
provement Act, HR 3692, to expand
medication-assisted treatment
• The STOP OD Act, HR 664, to expand
prevention, promote treatment and re-
covery, and provide training and equip-
ment for Naloxone
• The Synthetics Trafficking & Over-
dose Prevention Act, HR 1057, to better
screen foreign illegal opioid imports
• The Opioid Immediate Suspension Or-
der Act, HR 4073, to restore the ability
of the Department of Justice to respond
to the growing opioid crisis
• Supported $1.6 billion for opioid re-
sponse in the last two years and has
called for additional investments in
these programs
Bonamici continued to oppose
multiple efforts in Congress to repeal
the Affordable Care Act and reduce
Oregonians’ access to affordable, high-
quality health care.
“Across Northwest Oregon, I’ve
heard that access to affordable health
care is the best first step in combatting
the opioid crisis,” said Bonamici. “The
Affordable Care Act made great strides
in improving access to behavioral and
addiction services, but there is still work
to do until all Oregonians have access
to affordable health care. I’ll continue
to work to improve, not limit, access to
health care and work together on ways
to bring down health care costs.”
Vernonia’s Voice is published
on the 1st and 3rd Thursday
of each month.
Vernonia’s Voice, LLC
PO Box 55
Vernonia, OR 97064
503-367-0098
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