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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 2019)
4A | WEDNESDAY EDITION | FEBRUARY 27, 2019 Siuslaw News P.O. Box 10 Florence, OR 97439 NED HICKSON , EDITOR | 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM Opinion The First Amendment C ongress shall make no law respect- ing an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Govern- ment for a redress of grievances. “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” —Thomas Jefferson (1800) USPS# 497-660 Copyright 2019 © Siuslaw News Siuslaw News Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane County, Oregon. A member of the National Newspaper Association and Oregon Newspaper Pub- lishers Association. Periodicals postage paid at Florence, Ore. Postmaster, send address changes to: Siuslaw News, P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR 97439; phone 541-997-3441; fax 541- 997-7979. All press releases may be sent to PressReleases@TheSiuslawNews.com. Jenna Bartlet Ned Hickson Susan Gutierrez Cathy Dietz Ron Annis Jeremy Gentry Publisher, ext. 318 Editor, ext. 313 Marketing Director, ext. 326 Office Supervisor, ext. 312 Production Supervisor Press Manager DEADLINES: Wednesday Issue—General news, Monday noon; Budgets, four days prior to publica- tion; Regular classified ads, Monday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Monday noon; Display classified ads, Friday 5 p.m. Saturday Issue—General news, Thursday noon; Budgets, two days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Thursday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Thursday noon; Display classified ads, Wednesday 5 p.m. Soundings, Tuesday 5 p.m. NEWSPAPER SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In Lane County — 1-year subscription, $76; 6-month in-county, $52; 10-week subscrip- tion, $23; Out of Lane County — 1-year subscription, $99; 6-month out-of-county, $65; 10- week subscription, $29; Out of State — 1-year subscription, $125; E-Edition Online Only (Anywhere) — 1-year subscription, $65. Mail subscription includes E-Edition. Website and E-Edition: TheSiuslawNews.com Letters tg the Editgr pglicy LETTERS End-gf-life chgice shguld be up tg ygu In the past year of traveling Or- egon and talking about expanding Oregon end-of-life choices, some- thing became very apparent: I am not the only one that does not want to live with a dementia of any type. I have met only one person in this time who said it didn’t matter to them. It’s all about choices and your God-given right to make those choices. Right now in front of our legislators are three House bills and one Senate bill to expand Oregon end-of-life choices You can help make these choices happen by emailing your state repre- sentatives and showing your support for expanding Oregon end-of-life choices. —Bruce Yelle Florence Mgre transparency fgr hgspital billing The Patient Bill of Rights was signed into law numerous years ago. It empowers patients in concert with hospitals and caregivers to have a significant part in numerous aspects of their care. Most hospitals, includ- ing PeaceHealth Peace Harbor have supported the bill, at least in some degree. The fly in the ointment, however, is lack of hospital transparency, which effectively negates the patient’s right and ability to pursue their concerns, whether it be billing, standard of care or some other issue. I recently received a bill for labora- tory services. One of the billed pro- cedures was a blood draw for $56. As a former Medical Laboratory Di- rector of 32 years, I was stunned by what I felt was an obscene charge. I know that the price of vacutain- ers, needles, labels and tape, and la- bor could not have cost the hospital more than $5. Other patients had already complained to me about laboratory bills that have increased wildly from previous years. I sought an explanation for the overpriced drawing fee. Several Peace Harbor employees stated that they did not have specifics for my question. Also, during my endeav- or for an explanation, I learned that about 75 percent of the blood tests drawn on patients that go to the out- patient drawing lab are actually test- ed in the local laboratory. The other approximately 25 per- cent of tests, which are more esoter- ic, are sent out to Quest Reference Laboratory in Eugene. (Some will recall that this is the lab that pur- chased PeaceHealth Laboratories in Eugene.) I also learned that PeaceHealth, rather than Quest, was billing those patients for the 25 percent of these tests that are sent off premise. I am assuming that PeaceHealth reim- burses Quest later in some man- ner for the testing. This practice is known as “pass through billing” and is viewed as unethical and, by some insurances, fraudulent. Call the 800 number on the back of your insur- ance card and ask how pass through billing will affect you. Tests should be billed by the lab that performs the procedure. The only way that that can occur now is to get an order from a provider and take it to a Quest drawing site in Eugene. Peace Harbor should be able to draw the blood ($56) and send bill- ing information to Quest so that pa- tients can receive a direct bill from the performing lab, Quest. Also, I noticed on my last visit to our caregiver that we who are in re- ality “outpatients” are admitted to the hospital as patients and then are immediately discharged after our visit. It would be nice to know how that change affects visits and billing. These are my impressions of what is occurring to the best of my knowl- edge. In my opinion, much need- ed transparency is lacking. I have sought answers to my concerns but the ability to get information is al- most nil. —Delmer Neeley Florence Thanks fgr speed reductign We thank the Oregon Depart- ment of Transportation (ODOT) and Mike Miller with the City of Florence for lowering the speed limit along a section of Rhododen- dron Drive from 45 mph to 40 mph, bringing it in line with other roads — many with fewer residents. After moving into a neighbor- hood adjacent to the section of Rho- dodendron Drive with the 45 mph speed limit, we realized how dan- gerous it was to pull out when cars rounded the curves at that speed and above. The City of Florence listened to our concerns and ODOT verified them with their speed zone investi- gation. —Mike and Pat Allen Florence The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the edi- tor as part of a community discussion of issues on the local, state and national level. Emailed letters are preferred. Handwritten or typed letters must be signed. All letters need to include full name, address and phone number; only name and city will be printed. Letters should be limited to about 300 words. Letters are sub- ject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not guaranteed and depends on space available and the volume of let- ters received. Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumen- tative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or documented will not be published. Letters containing poetry or from outside the Siuslaw News readership area will only be pub- lished at the discretion of the editor. Pglitical/Electign Letters: Election-related letters must address pertinent or timely issues of interest to our readers at-large. Letters must 1) Not be a part of letter-writing campaigns on behalf of (or by) candidates; 2) En- sure any information about a candidate is accu- rate, fair and not from second-hand knowledge or hearsay; and 3) Explain the reasons to support candidates based on personal experience and perspective rather than partisanship and cam- paign-style rhetoric. Candidates themselves may not use the letters to the editor column to outline their views and platforms or to ask for votes; this constitutes paid political advertising. As with all letters and advertising content, the newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publish- er, general manager and editor, reserves the right to reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above criteria. Emal letters to: nhickson@thesiuslawnews.com WHERE TO WRITE Pfes. Donald Tfumh The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461 TTY/TDD Comments: 202-456-6213 www.whitehouse.gov Ofegon Gov. Kate Bfown 160 State Capitol 900 Court St. Salem, Ore. 97301-4047 Governor’s Citizens’ Rep. Message Line: 503-378-4582 www.oregon.gov/gov U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden 221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg Washington, DC 20510 202-224-5244 541-431-0229 www.wyden.senate.gov U.S. Sen. Jeff Mefkley 313 Hart Senate Office Bldg Washington, DC 20510 202-224-3753 FAX: 202-228-3997 541-465-6750 www.merkley.senate.gov U.S. Reh. Petef DeFazio (4th Dist.) 2134 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 202-225-6416 541-269-2609 541-465-6732 www.defazio.house.gov State Sen. Afnie Roblan (Dist. 5) 900 Court St. NE - S-417 Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1705 FAX: 503-986-1080 Email: Sen.ArnieRoblan@ oregonlegislature.gov State Reh. Caddy McKeown (Dist. 9) 900 Court St. NE Salem, OR 97301 503-986-1409 Email: rep.caddymckeown @oregonlegislature.gov West Lane County Commissionef Jay Bozievich 125 E. Eighth St. Eugene, OR 97401 541-682-4203 FAX: 541-682-4616 Email: Jay.Bozievich@ co.lane.or.us
