LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
A9
Health insurers not following Oregon law
requiring free reproductive health care
By LYNNE TERRY
Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM — Oregon’s governor,
lawmakers and state agency offi -
cials have often touted the state’s
reproductive rights law as one of the
most comprehensive and equitable
in the country.
But there’s a problem: Many
insurers providing coverage to more
than 1 million Oregonians are not
following the regulations.
That is one of the fi ndings of an
audit ordered by the state Depart-
ment of Consumer and Business
Services, which regulates the insur-
ance industry. Released Tuesday,
June 21, the report said investiga-
tors found widespread evidence
of violations of the Reproductive
Health Equity Act, passed by the
Legislature in 2017 and eff ective
in 2019. The law requires insur-
ers to provide free coverage for
reproductive health care, including
screenings, abortions and contra-
ceptives — even to undocumented
immigrants.
The violations mean that Ore-
gonians have been paying, at least
in part, for reproductive services
that are supposed to be free. The
Jack Parry/Wallowa County Chieftain
Jay Kruckman and his cousin stopped at Paul’s Service Station in Joseph
during the Wallowa County Thunder Run on Friday, June 24, 2022.
Wallowa County Thunder
Run revved up in Joseph
By JACK PARRY
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — The afternoon sun
pierced down on Main Street in
Joseph as summer fi nally began
to rear its head on Northeastern
Oregon.
Sitting under the awning of the
Stubborn Mule, right behind one
of Joseph’s shiny Bronze Bike
statues, Scott Reinhardt awaited
people to register for the eighth
annual Wallowa County Thun-
der Run, a charity motorcycle
ride throughout the county which
brings bikers together for a cause.
But this year, he noticed that
even in the morning, the turnout
for the event had been one of the
lowest he’d seen.
“They used to have 40 peo-
ple together doing these rides,”
he said.
Reihardt only registered four
bikers at that point in the day,
and the memories of town being
fl ooded with bikes seemed to be a
thing of the past.
Biker Jay Kruckman recalled
the fl urry of bikers in years past,
and thinks that the lack of turnout
during the pandemic could have
aff ected this year’s event for event
organizer Gary Bethscheider.
“I think he (Gary) spent so
much money on it the last few
years, and not a lot of people
showed up,” Kruckman said.
However, Reindhardt described
the Thunder Run as a destination
for these riders to take their “hogs”
on a beautiful trip around the area
to places such as Wallowa Lake.
Kruckman and his cousin
have been riding together for 54
years, and they have been com-
ing to do the Thunder Run since
2017. They even rode out to
Joseph when the event was can-
celed during 2020.
He added, “2020 we were here
too, came up (and) did our own
thing.”
But it’s not just about the sce-
nic routes. Giving back to the
community is a big priority for
riders. While the Thunder Run
is a competition to see who can
reach all of the spots on their card
fi rst for a cash prize, 50% of the
donated pot goes to charity.
This year, Creating Memories
for Disabled Children was the
organization chosen to receive
the donations from the event.
Based in Joseph, the not-for-prof-
it’s mission is to create memories
for special needs children and
their families.
Despite the lower turnout than
usual, the Bronze Bike, sculpted
by Dick Cross, continues to stand
by as bikers from far and wide
descend upon Wallowa County
to connect, give back and take in
the breathtaking sights that the
ride has to off er.
report did not say how many Ore-
gonians were aff ected.
The act applies to commercial
insurers, including individual and
large and small group plans. The
only exceptions to the law are reli-
gious-based insurers, such as Prov-
idence Health Plan, which are
exempted from the law.
“IT’S INCREDIBLY
DISAPPOINTING
AND INCREDIBLY
UNSURPRISING.”
— Oregon Sen. Elizabeth Steiner
Hayward, D-Portland and a physician
at Oregon Health & Science University
The audit examined claims from
Jan. 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2020.
The department initiated the audit
when its work on a legislative report
in June 2020 found that the require-
ments were not being fully followed.
The agency found “variations in
coverage and indications of poten-
tial widespread noncompliance with
the law,” specifi cally the failure to
fully pay for certain services, the
report said.
Reproductive rights supporters
were angered but not shocked by
the report.
“It’s incredibly disappointing
and incredibly unsurprising,” state
Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward,
D-Portland and a physician at Ore-
gon Health & Science University,
told the Capital Chronicle. While
acknowledging that “it is tough to
revamp when new requirements go
into place,” she said insurers have
had almost three years to adapt to
the law.
“What baffl es me is this: All
those things are things that ulti-
mately save insurance companies
money,” Steiner Hayward said. “It
is cheaper to provide contraception
than to care for someone when she’s
pregnant. It’s also smarter because
people who get pregnant when
they’re planning to are more likely
to have healthy babies.”
Under the law, insurers must
cover abortions, anemia screenings,
contraception, pregnancy screening,
sterilization and screening for sex-
ually transmitted diseases for free.
The law also requires coverage for
undocumented immigrants.
OREGON DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY
Fire season begins in Northeast Oregon District
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Warming tem-
peratures and changing fuel con-
ditions are prompting the Oregon
Department of Forestry to begin
fi re season on private forest lands in
Northeast Oregon.
Fire season will be at 12:01 a.m.
Friday, July 1, for forest and range
lands protected by ODF Northeast
Oregon District, according to an
announcement from the department.
“We’ve seen a little reprieve this
spring and early summer. Fire sea-
son has been announced in June for
the past few years, so it’s been good
to have some delay this year,” Matt
Howard, an ODF district forester,
said.
The fi re season declaration
places fi re prevention restrictions
on landowners and the public. Addi-
tionally, fi re prevention regulations
on industrial logging and forest
management activities are put into
place. Lands aff ected include pri-
vate, state, county, municipal and
tribal lands in Union, Baker, Wal-
lowa and Umatilla counties along
with small portions of Malheur,
Morrow and Grant counties within
the Northeast Oregon Forest Protec-
tion District. This area encompasses
approximately 2 million acres of
protected lands.
“Those spring storms have pro-
vided some much-needed moisture.
However, this moisture has caused a
lot of growth in our fi ne fuels, such
as grasses, small brush and shrubs,”
Howard said. “These are often our
carrier fuels and are more suscepti-
ble to quickly drying and becoming
ready-to-burn faster.”
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Coffee Break!
56. Hotel chain
58. A team’s best
pitcher
59. Extracts from
various sources
60. Indefinite
period of time
CLUES ACROSS 24. Orthodox Jews 39. Private school
in New York
1. Basics
26. Actor Harris
40.
Israeli dance
4. In a new way
27. Wild cherry
41.
Electron volt
10. __ Paulo, city 28. Participate in
42.
Adjusting
democracy
11. Jailhouse
48. Duct by the
12. Expresses
30. Opposite of
bladder
surprise
begins
50. Small burger
14. Trigraph
31. A Brit’s mother
51. Begin again
15. A small stream 34. Set of moral
52. Unstuck
16. Dissimilar
principles
53. Jai __, sport
18. Promote
36. Very fast
airplane
54. Get free of
22. Gives a boost
23. Lawmaker
37. Czech river
55. For instance
21. German
expressionist
painter
25. What drives
you
29. N. Vietnamese
ethnic group
CLUES DOWN
31. Gold coin used
in British India
1. St. Francis
of __
32. Have deep
affection for
2. Supported
33. Ponds
3. United in
working
35. Breaks be-
tween words
4. It cools your
home
38. Hairstyle
5. Predicting
6. Irritated
43. Family of iron
alloys
7. Popular talk
show host
44. Sidelined in
bed
8. Fabric edge
45. Many couples
say it
9. A resource for
employees
12. Broadway’s
Jackman
13. Small water
buffalo
17. City of Angels:
__ Angeles
19. Asteroids
20. Tailless
amphibians
WORDS
ACCELERATION
AIRTIME
ASCEND
BARREL
BENTS
BOOMERANG
BRAKE RUN
CARS
CHAIN
CIRCUIT
CORKSCREW
CUTBACK
ENCLOSED
ENTHUSIAST
HEADREST
INVERSION
LAPBAR
LIFT
LOOP
PLATFORM
RESTRAINT
STEEL
TRACK
WOODEN
41. Print errors
46. Brazilian
hoopster
47. Allman
Brothers late
frontman
49. German city
56. One hundred
grams (abbr.)
57. One billionth
of a second
(abbr.)
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