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• COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • AUGUST 1, 2018
The First Amendment
O PINION
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religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridg-
ing the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition their
Government for a redress of greivences.
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Political/Election Letters:
Diffi cult decision made to close local Habitat ReStore
H
abitat for Humanity
brings
people
together to build
homes, communities and hope.
Thanks to the hard work of
many committed volunteers,
staff and generous donors,
Habitat for Humanity has been
well represented in the Cottage
Grove Area since 1992. At the
end of 2017, as many of you
may be aware, Cottage Grove
merged with the Springfield/
Eugene affiliate to form Habitat
for Humanity of Central Lane.
Through this merger, the
leadership from both affiliates
have come together into one
organization to focus on sup-
porting families to build and
improve places to call home.
There is an increasing need
for services like the ones
Habitat provides in Lane
County. The cost of rent is
increasing faster than wages,
housing stock is scarce, and
homeownership is increasingly
out of reach for local families.
Habitat for Humanity
believes that affordable housing
plays a critical role in strong
and stable communities. Later
this summer, we will break
ground in Cottage Grove on
the second Habitat home in
2018 for a local future home-
buyer.
This is a significant commit-
ment to building home owner-
ship in the community and
demonstrates our goal to serve
the Cottage Grove Area as part
of the greater Habitat for
Humanity of Central Lane.
We recognize the housing
crisis in Lane County, and
building materials, décor,
appliances and more. The rev-
enue generated through the
ReStore is invested back into
the programs supporting home
building and small home
improvement projects.
While many see the ReStore
as the face of Habitat, and
Guest Viewpoint
Kellie De Vore & Linda Duff endack Oxley
Habitat for Humanity
across the state, is much bigger
than the number of individuals
and families we can serve. We
know that building home own-
ership for a handful of families
a year is not going to make a
substantial difference in the
county, but it is going to make a
measurable and significant dif-
ference for those homebuyers.
We are a small, but import-
ant part of the puzzle that needs
to be put together to address
the need for affordable housing
in Lane County.
A critical tool that has
evolved in Habitat for
Humanity across the country is
the ReStore. The ReStore sells
quality new and gently used
despite providing a valuable
service for affordable home
improvements, the selling of
goods is not the primary goal of
Habitat.
Habitat for Humanity runs
ReStores across the country for
the purpose of supporting the
mission of building homes, not
as a service in and of itself to
the community.
Despite significant effort, the
ReStore location in Cottage
Grove has proven to be a chal-
lenge to make successful. The
staff and volunteers have
worked hard and have demon-
strated a level of commitment
that is appreciated and com-
mended, however, multiple fac-
tors have impacted the opera-
tions of this location.
We have spent the past six
months working to improve
our bottom line in Cottage
Grove, but the store remains in
the red. As such, we have made
the difficult decision to close
the Cottage Grove ReStore.
It is important that the com-
munity understand that the
long term goal of the ReStore
was always intended to be a
revenue source for building
and improving homes. We can-
not in good conscience contin-
ue to operate a store that is
taking funding and staff time
away from that primary mis-
sion of our organization.
Thank you to the communi-
ty for your long standing sup-
port of Habitat for Humanity.
We look forward to building
a new home with you this fall,
and continuing to partner with
you to build and improve plac-
es to call home.
—Kellie DeVore
Executive Director
kellie.devore@habitatlane.org
From the Managing Editor’s Desk
Send letters to:
nhickson@cgsentinel.com or cmay@cgsentinel.com
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS
Oregon state
representatives
Oregon federal
representatives
• Sen. Floyd Prozanski
District 4 State Senator
PO Box 11511
Eugene, Ore. 97440
Phone: 541-342-2447
Email : sen.fl oydprozanski@
state.or.us
• Rep. Cedric Hayden
Republican District 7 State
Representative
900 Court St. NE
Salem, Ore. 97301
Phone: 503-986-1407
Website: www.leg.state.or.
us/hayden
Email: rep.cedrichayden@
state.or.us
• Rep. Peter DeFazio
(House of Representatives)
405 East 8th Ave.
#2030
Eugene, Ore. 97401
Email: defazio.house.gov/
contact/email-peter
Phone: 541-465-6732
• Sen. Ron Wyden
405 East 8th Ave., Suite 2020
Eugene, Ore. 97401
Email: wyden.senate.gov
Phone: (541) 431-0229
• Sen. Jeff Merkley
Email: merkley.senate.gov
Phone: 541-465-6750
—Linda Duffendack Oxley
Field Office Manager
Linda.oxley@habitatlane.org
C ottage G rove
Congress still asking the wrong health care question
industri-alized countries for and only 900 beds.
The reason?
overall
healthcare
dol-
Billing specialists are needed
lar-for-dollar.
In preparing this editorial, I to determine how to bill the
spent time researching the rea- varying requirements of multi-
sons behind healthcare’s ple insurers.
astro-nomical costs in this
Why the need for multiple
insurers?
country.
While watching the
Because more and more, sin-
While there are many fac-
re newed debate in our nation’s tors, from defensive medicine gle insurers can’t cover the ris-
capitol over healthcare, I practices for avoiding lawsuits, ing costs of medical procedures
couldn’t help but be struck by
the irony of knowing that the
same people haggling over
what kind of health care
Americans should receive are
Ned Hickson
the same people who have
complete health care paid for
by taxpayer dollars.
It’s no wonder that the real to the “branding” of healthcare and drug prescriptions, partic-
question that members of providers similar to designer ularly at a time when the medi-
Congress should be asking has clothing (the bigger the name, an age in America is 40.
yet to be raised: Why is health- the more money they can
In most countries, govern-
care so expensive to begin with? demand from insurance com- ment negotiates drug prices
At $3 trillion a year, the cost panies), the same two cost fac- with drug makers, which virtu-
of healthcare in the U.S. is near- tors rise to the top of the list:
ally guarantees lower prices.
ly twice as much as any other
However, when Congress creat-
Administrative costs.
developed country. In fact, if
ed Medicare Part D, it specifi-
Drug costs.
that $3 trillion healthcare sec-
WHO studies, Consumer cally denied Medicare the right
tor was its own country, it Reports and even health econo- to negotiate drug prices.
would be the fifth-largest econ- mists like David Cutler at
At the same time, the
omy in the world according to Harvard University agree that Veterans Administration and
Consumer Reports.
those two factors are the driv- Medicaid aren’t under the same
And even though we are out- ing forces behind skyrocketing restriction and pay the lowest
spending other industrialized healthcare costs.
drug prices.
countries nearly 2-to-1, the
According to Congress’s own
On average, 25 percent of
World Health Organization healthcare dollars go to cover Budget Office, if Medicare Part
(WHO) recently ranked the administrative fees. In an inter- D recipients received the same
U.S. a dismal 37th in healthcare view on the PBS News Hour, discount as Medicaid recipi-
systems
—
with
The Cutler gave the example of ents, the federal government
Commonwealth Fund naming Duke University Hospital, would save $116 billion over
us dead last among the top 11 which has 1,300 billing clerks the next 10 years.
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) Ensure
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and 3) explain the reasons to support candidates
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Candidates themselves may not use the letters to the
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advertising.
As with all letters and advertising content, the
newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publisher,
general manager and editor, reserves the right to
reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above criteria.
Imagine
the
money
American taxpayers would save
if those on Medicare could ben-
efit from the same Medicaid-
negotiated drug prices?
One has to wonder why
Congress is so opposed to
weighing in on controlling the
cost of prescription drugs and
healthcare as a whole, and what
— if any — role those who ben-
efit most from that $3 trillion
industry play in that decision.
As taxpayers, we are
America’s shareholders — and
Congress is our board of direc-
tors. It’s time we ask why the
board of America, Inc., isn’t
pursuing a more cost-effective
healthcare plan that will guar-
antee a better return on our
investment, which in this case
liter-ally puts lives at stake
physically and financially.
Rather than bickering over
ways to pay for the astronomi-
cal costs associated with health-
care and prescription drugs,
Congress needs to slow down
and address the issue of con-
trolling those costs in the first
place.
Establishing
affordable
healthcare isn’t about how to
pay more but about how to pay
less.
(Write to managing editor
Ned Hickson at nhickson@cgsen-
tinel.com)
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