Local News
Vote
mum number of people to vote in
Northeast Portland.
“In ’08, we facilitated on the
weekdays 200 to 300 volunteers a
day, and on the weekends 400-500
volunteers a day,” Davis says.
“So people were taking clip-
boards and going out and
volunteer ‘regging’ from 9 in the
morning until 9 at night, seven
days a week, all over the city.
“And what I see happening now
is voter ‘reg’ during events – but
and towards decentralized neigh-
borhood hubs.
That decision has made it
tougher to build the volunteer
momentum of the ’08 campaign.
This year the Obama headquar-
ters is across town at 1125 SE
Madison Ave., Suite 112; but,
David and Akin say, Northeast
Killingsworth Street is a key loca-
tion as well.
“I think the African Americans
are being disenfranchised,” Davis
says. “We have the
African Americans
over here, the Lati-
nos over there, and
the gay and lesbian
community
over
there.
“In ‘08 we all
worked together —
I’m part of an
Obama
breakfast
group that has met
every week since he
was elected. We need to recreate
that.”
“The people felt empowered,”
Akin says. “And we want to
empower this community.”
For those who spent time on the
1600
block
of
Northeast
Killingsworth Street on the night
of Nov. 4, 2008, the memory is
unforgettable.
“By any chance did you come
For those who spent time
on NE Killingsworth Street
on the night of Nov. 4,
2008, the memory is
unforgettable
that’s not where you’re going to
get the people that need to be
approached,” Davis says.
“And of course that’s what
excites me – when the young peo-
ple want to get registered to vote,”
she said. “It just reinforces that we
need to get this done.”
Akin and Davis say that the
Obama campaign has changed its
strategy away from one city office,
LISA LOVING PHOTO
continued from page 1
Multnomah County Democrats opened the doors of their new Voter Registration Depot on
Tuesday morning to a steady stream of curious passersby, as well as Multnomah Education
Service District board member Gary Hollands and his son, Gary, Jr., holding a voter registration
clipboard. From left, Hollands is joined by Voter Depot co-manager Roseta Akin, and at right,
co-manager Colleen Davis.
down to the office in 08?” Akins
says.
“It reminded me of the World
War II pictures.
“I danced in the streets, I kissed
strangers, and the police that were
there supposedly supervising? All
they wanted to know was what
food that was coming out,” Akins
said. “’Have we had any lasagna?’
‘I haven’t had any lasagna.’”
“I had a whole bunch of people
down at the convention center and
I heard fireworks, and I started
driving down the street here and I
thought: It looks like it’s coming
from the office,” Davis said.
“I got here and there were 14
police cars and hundreds of people
and I rushed up to the first police
officer and said, ‘Oh no are they
breaking into the office?’
“And he said, ‘Calm down,
we’re just having a party.’”
Health
continued from page 1
730,000 people the company serves
statewide.
In addition to raising rates, Regence will
also no longer cover routine eye exams and
will increase out-of-pocket costs.
Some plans will no longer cover mental
health services. According to Burton,
Regence still offers the Evolve
HSA plan, which offers mental
health coverage and has five pric-
ing options.
Jesse O’Brien, a consumer advo-
cate for OSPIRG, says that while
the changes might save some
money for consumers, the higher
end rate hikes, increases in out of
pocket costs and premiums will
mean that “customers will be
exposed to a substantially increased risk of
financial hardship in the case of illness.”
Another sticking point for consumer and
small business advocates is that proprietary
documents weren’t allowed to be reviewed
in a public setting.
“The Oregon Insurance Division, which is
the administrative entity that makes these
decisions, determined in a closed door
meeting with Regence officials that some of
the documents justifying Regence’s pro-
posal to alter its Portland area provider
network were trade secrets and wouldn’t be
made publicly available,” says O’Brien.
“We feel that this raises questions about the
transparency of their rate review process
going forward and it’s concerning for us.”
The Affordable Care Act requires an
insurance company to explain any rate
increases above 10 percent to its state and
federal Rate Review program.
In the case of Regence’s most recent hike,
which falls below 10 percent, Oregon HB
2009 says that all rate increases must be
reviewed by the state, which includes an
independent review by OSPIRG and a pub-
lic hearing.
Burton says both of these steps were taken
in accordance with state protocol.
He says that the company did justify its
rate increases in a public hearing on July 30.
An Aug. 24 story from the Lund Report, a
healthcare watchdog site, suggested that
Regence was declining to publicly share
information on how it determines its rate
increases. A letter the blog obtained from
as well as documents provided by the Insur-
ance Division, explaining why their
findings favored Regence’s request.
He says that under Oregon law, “You have
to make a showing that releasing this infor-
mation would be detrimental to
competition. You can’t simply say, ‘It’s our
view that this would harm com-
petition.’”
“You could show, for exam-
ple, that certain kind of
information in the hands of cer-
tain competitors is going to be
used for price fixing.”
Kirsch says that some of the
confidential information he is
requesting could actually be
pro-competitive.
In a 2009 memo he expressed these same
concerns to Teresa Miller, formerly of the
Insurance Division.
In it he wrote, “Analysis suggests that the
exemption claims filed by requesters and
the stipulation agreements entered by the
In the case of Regence, individual
members who purchase health
insurance on their own will be the
only ones subject to the increase
Regence President Don Antonucci to Insur-
ance Division officials said that doing so
“would result in competitive harm to
Regence and, more importantly, its current
and future members.” The company offered
to let officials review the process at their
Portland offices.
Martinis contends that they did
post information on their website
about why certain documents were
considered “trade secrets,” as well as
other information letting the public
know the details of the process.
“We announced on our website
that we were going to look at these
documents,”
says
Martinis.
“Provider contracts are confidential
by Oregon law which protects trade
secrets. We aren’t allowed to put
them on our website, like we did with every
other document that was part of this filing.”
Some have questioned what qualifies as
“trade secrets” under Oregon law.
In response to the Regence decision,
Larry Kirsch of IMR Health Economics
made a public records request for docu-
ments provided by Regence that
substantiate why their info should be safe-
guarded under the trade secrets exemption,
Specifically, he says the rates are lower
when the level of transparency is higher.
Small businesses will be hit particularly
hard by the increase, says Shields.
“This type of an increase, on top of dou-
ble digit increases of the past, is socking
small business owners and others in the
individual market; it is socking them square
in the gut,” says Shields.
For example, during a testimony for the
Consumer and Small Business Protection
Committee, Oregon small business owner
Diane Frank said her premiums with Life-
Wise went up from $273 in 2007 to $580 in
2010. At the time, her premium was set to
go up to $667 for 2011, under a proposed 15
percent increase. During her testimony, she
said these premiums made her business
unsustainable.
Both Shields and OSPIRG agree that
transparency is at the heart of this issue.
According to Shields, “These issues are
too important for small business to have
them determined behind closed doors.”
Editor’s Note: An earlier ver-
sion of this story contained
factual errors. It stated that all of
Regence’s customers would face
an 8.9 percent increase when that
will only be affecting some mem-
bers. The original made a claim
that Regence is no longer provid-
ing mental health services. The
company is taking those services
out of some plans. The original
article also implied that Regence
didn’t hold a public hearing for their rate
increases. One was held on July 30 but
advocates argue it didn’t constitute full dis-
closure. The Skanner News apologizes for
these errors.
Both Shields and OSPIRG agree
that transparency is at the heart
of this issue
parties were often at odds with applicable
economic theory of the competitive process
(harm to competition) and inconsistent with
marketplace facts (Oregon Individual insur-
ance market subject to Oregon laws and
regulations). In general, the exemption fil-
ings tended to be conclusory rather than
fact-driven and highly speculative.”
Shields says that states with a more robust
review process tend to get better results.
September 5, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3