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Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, August 8, 2017 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor MARISSA WILLIAMS Regional Advertising Director MARCY ROSENBERG Circulation Manager JANNA HEIMGARTNER Business Office Manager MIKE JENSEN Production Manager OUR VIEW Smear plan gives OHA a bad look Although the plan went nowhere, Oregonians should be outraged that a state agency even considered planting negative news stories about a health- care nonprofit. The Portland Tribune broke the story last week about the Oregon Health Authority proposal to promote negative news coverage and undermine the credibility of FamilyCare Health, one of the state’s coordinated care organizations. The draft communications plan included looking for an HIV patient who would complain about FamilyCare and trying to get a journalist to write about that patient’s experience. Journalists often work off such tips, but it’s beyond callous for a state agency — the state health agency! — to consider exploiting a patient in such a way. The plan never was implemented. Lynne Saxton, director of the Oregon Health Authority, said it was part of an initial draft that was soon squelched. “If something bad happens [at OHA], I take full responsibility for it, as I am doing here,” she told us on Monday. Saxton said she encourages her staff to be creative. But the fact that anyone in a state agency would even suggest planting negative news stories raises questions about the culture at the Oregon Health Authority, and even the leadership of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown. “This is outrageous. I’ve never heard or seen anything like this,” said state Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, whose roots in state government reach back to the Tom McCall administration. “This is not the Oregon way. Our way is to work collaboratively and hammer out compromises, not to throw people under the bus just because you disagree with them.” OHA already had raised eyebrows this year for its aggressive press releases about its dispute with the FamilyCare, with which the health authority has been in litigation and mediation for two-and-a-half years. It’s been a tough year for the state health department. This spring, Republican legislators criticized OHA and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for attempting “to push a misleading story line” regarding health and environmental concerns at Entek International in Lebanon. Legislators also were upset that OHA may have been authorizing state-paid health care to substantial numbers of Oregonians who were ineligible, despite assurances to the Legislature that everything was under control. Against that backdrop, it’s troubling that the state was slow to respond to last week’s Tribune article. Saxton told us that she would be sending a letter of apology to Oregon’s coordinated care organizations, assuring them that OHA would treat them fairly and would not tolerate negative public relations efforts. She also will ask the state Department of Justice to train her staff on attorney-client privileges. Those may be worthwhile steps, assuming they promote transparency and openness instead of finding ways to hide “creative” ideas under the veil of attorney-client privilege. Still, it is disconcerting that the Governor’s office did not immediately respond to the Tribune’s revelations; and, as of this writing, still had not done so. One leading Republican candidate for governor, Bend Rep. Knute Buehler, said the OHA negative- publicity plan — even though it never was implemented — demonstrates arrogance and a lack of accountability by a state agency. The state’s CEO, Gov. Kate Brown, should recognize that as well. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. OTHER VIEWS EPA a swamp worth draining L ike the road to Hell, liberal damage when it sent 3 million ideas are usually paved gallons of tainted wastewater with good intentions. into rivers in Colorado, New But, as Ronald Reagan once Mexico and Utah. said, “The trouble with our We are expected to ignore that liberal friends is not that they the Clean Power Plan will, at are ignorant, but that they know best, reduce global temperatures so much that isn’t so.” And by a negligible one hundredth all that vast “unknowledge” of a degree, Celsius, according Susan births monster government Stamper to the Obama administration’s agencies like the Environmental former Assistant Secretary of Brown Protection Agency. Energy, Charles McConnell. Comment The plan offers little mercy to Today’s EPA is an agency millions of Americans burning gone wild, filled with wood to stay warm, imposing a ban on environmental extremists and deep state the sale and production of 80 percent holdovers who have little accountability of America’s wood burning stoves. for their actions. They arrogantly create rules like the “Clean Power Plan,” which Forbes.com says, “Most wood stoves that warm cabins and homes from the Institute for Energy Research [IER] coast-to-coast can’t meet that standard. said was filled with about as much junk Older stoves that don’t, cannot be traded as the EPA and its contractors pumped in for updated types, but instead must into Colorado’s Animas River in 2015. EPA’s new administrator, Scott Pruitt, be rendered inoperable, destroyed, or recycled as scrap metal.” visited the Animas River site August 4 Or, maybe the EPA could just throw saying the agency “should be held to the same standard as those we regulate.” scrapped stoves down the Animas River. In the aftermath of the toxic spill, and Pruitt said the Obama administration with infinitesimal accountability for its “failed those who counted on them actions, this agency marches forward in an to protect the environment.” They unrelenting mission to control our lives, also refused to pay claims to many of one unlegislated regulation at a time. those they harmed due to “sovereign A Wyoming man had to sue the immunity.” EPA to get it off his back for building President Trump’s promise to “drain a stock pond on his property. He was the swamp” is happening organically threatened with $37,500 per day fines with employees resigning over Trump’s because “material” from his pond flows withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, into other waterways. It mattered not as well as his March 28 executive order that the “other waterways” is a manmade mandating review of the Clean Power irrigation ditch where the water is used Plan, which effectually triggers the for agriculture. Nor did it matter that skyrocketing electricity prices Obama the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office promised. The EPA claimed the plan would permitted the pond. “save” thousands of lives, probably as Certainly, the “material” from his effectively as Obama’s stimulus plan pristine pond, fit for fish and waterfowl “saved” jobs. It was also supposed to to flourish and cattle to drink, did not turn improve the climate and our health, waterways a toxic Animas River orange. that is, barring more EPA-caused If Trump wants to prove he really environmental disasters like the Animas cares about the environment, he could River spill. start with this heavy-handed bureaucracy Environmentalists have gone bonkers swamp in dire need of draining. over Trump mandating a review of this ■ costly and burdensome plan, but were Susan Stamper Brown lives in Alaska mysteriously silent when the Animas and writes about culture, politics and spill caused $400 million in economic current events. OTHER VIEWS What’s next for progressives? F or now, at least, the attempt Meanwhile, the political logic that to repeal the Affordable Care led to Obamacare rather than Medicare Act appears dead. Sabotage by for all still applies. a spiteful Trump administration is It’s not just about paying off the insurance industry, although getting still a risk, but there is — gasp! — a insurers to buy in to health reform bipartisan push to limit the damage, wasn’t foolish, and arguably helped with Democrats who want to preserve save the ACA: At a crucial moment recent gains allying with Republicans America’s Health Insurance Plans, who fear that the public will blame Paul them for declining coverage and rising Krugman the industry lobbying organization, and Blue Cross Blue Shield premiums. Comment intervened to denounce Republican This represents a huge victory for plans. progressives, who did a startlingly A far more important consideration is good job of marshaling facts, mobilizing minimizing disruption to the 156 million public opinion, and pressuring politicians to stand their ground. But where do they go from people who currently get insurance through here? If Democrats regain control of Congress their employers, and are largely satisfied with their coverage. Moving to single-payer would and the White House, what will they do with mean taking away this coverage and imposing the opportunity? new taxes; to make it fly politically you’d Well, some progressives — by and large have to convince most of these people both people who supported Bernie Sanders in that they would save more in premiums than the primaries — are already trying to revive they pay in additional taxes, and that their new one of his signature proposals: expanding coverage would be just as good as the old. Medicare to cover everyone. Some even want This might in fact be true, but it would be to make support for single-payer a litmus test one heck of a hard sell. Is this really where for Democratic candidates. progressives want to spend their political So it’s time for a little pushback. A capital? commitment to universal health coverage What would I do instead? I’d enhance the — bringing in the people currently falling ACA, not replace it, although I would strongly through Obamacare’s cracks — should support reintroducing some form of public definitely be a litmus test. But single-payer, while it has many virtues, isn’t the only way to option — a way for people to buy into public insurance — that could eventually lead to get there; it would be much harder politically single-payer. than its advocates acknowledge; and there are Meanwhile, progressives should move more important priorities. beyond health care and focus on other holes in The key point to understand about universal coverage is that we know a lot about the U.S. safety net. When you compare the U.S. social what it takes, because every other wealthy welfare system with those of other wealthy country has it. How do they do it? Actually, countries, what really stands out now is lots of different ways. Look at the latest report by the nonpartisan our neglect of children. Other countries provide new parents with extensive paid Commonwealth Fund, comparing health leave, provide high-quality, subsidized day care performance among advanced nations. care for children with working parents and America is at the bottom; the top three make pre-K available to everyone or almost performers are Britain, Australia, and the everyone; we do none of these things. Netherlands. And the thing is, these three Our spending on families is a third of the leaders have very different systems. advanced-country average, putting us down Britain has true socialized medicine: there with Mexico and Turkey. The government provides health care So if it were up to me, I’d talk about directly through the National Health improving the ACA, not ripping it up and Service. Australia has a single-payer starting over, while opening up a new system, basically Medicare for All — it’s progressive front on child care. even called Medicare. But the Dutch have I have nothing against single-payer; it’s what we might call Obamacare done right: what I’d support if we were starting fresh. individuals are required to buy coverage But we aren’t: Getting there from here would from regulated private insurers, with be very hard, and might not accomplish subsidies to help them afford the premiums. much more than a more modest, incremental And the Dutch system works, which approach. Even idealists need to set priorities, suggests that a lot could be accomplished via and Medicare-for-all shouldn’t be at the top of incremental improvements in the ACA, rather the list. than radical change. Further evidence for ■ this view is how relatively well Obamacare, Paul Krugman joined The New York Times imperfect as it is, already works in states that in 1999 as a columnist on the Op-Ed Page try to make it work — did you know that and continues as professor of Economics and only 5.4 percent of New Yorkers are now International Affairs at Princeton University. uninsured? CULTURE CORNER It’s a bird, it’s a plane ... it’s Bugs Bunny? B Martian Manhunter can’t let atman’s archenemy is Marvin the Martian use his The Joker. The Legion “Explosive Space Modulator” of Super-Heroes found to destroy earth. their inspiration in Superboy. And Fudd, forever chasing Wonder Woman is nigh that wascally wabbit, trudges unbeatable. out of the Looney Tunes’ vivid DC Comics long ago animations to gloomy Gotham established those superhero to track down the Dark Knight histories, and this past June the himself. entertainment giant stood them The hunt is on, so be vewy, on their heads. Not through vewy quiet. the typical messy character The takes on all these revisions comic shops too often match-ups are not mere engage in. parodies. That would be easy. Nope. DC teamed up with Fudd fitting into Gotham’s Looney Tunes. You thought Bugs Bunny underbelly, for example, makes for something more intriguing. was the ultimate trickster? Or Courtesy DC Comics/Looney Tunes The poet Ezra Pound Elmer Fudd was just a funny proclaimed “Make It New,” the wittle man? mantra of modernism. “In a world where” each Think again. month seems to bring another superhero TV DC issued six one-shot crossovers between show or movie, these six comic books embrace the two universes. Wonder Woman has her that artistic ideal while seeking to inject a real work cut out taking on the Tasmanian Devil. sense of fun into a genre becoming less shiny Yosemite Sam might regret seeking the help by the day. — Phil Wright, reporter of DC’s brooding antihero Jonah Hex. The LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
