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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 1994)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, October 19, 1994 - THREE Oregon Health Plan members to receive improved coverage Oregon Health Plan mem bers in 20 counties including Morrow County will receive im proved m ental health coverage beginning Jan. 1 as a result of decisions made by of ficials of the state Mental Health and Developmental Disability Services Division, says a press release. Ater Jan. 1 drug and alcohol treatment will be covered for those eligible under the Oregon Health Plan. The division announced its intent to contract with four managed-care plans, four com munity mental health programs and tw o orag an izatio n s authorized by community men tal health programs. The con tracts will be for coverage in the first phase of enhanced mental health services under the Oregon Health Plan, which will reach 25 percent of the covered population in the state. The balance of people covered by the Oregon Health Plan will receive mental health coverage beginning July 1, 19%. Barry Kast, administrator of the state Mental Health and Developmental Disability Ser vices Division, said people covered by the Oregon Health Plan in the following counties will be the first to receive the new mental health benefit: Baker, Crook, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, W asco, W h eeler, C oos, Josephine, Benton, Clackamas and Washington. The 1993 Oregon Legislature ordered the phase-in of services to give the state a chance to check cost assumptions, to compare managed care plans (in which an insurer is paid a specified amount per person for coverage) with the fee for service method, and to review the im pact of integrating treatments for mental health with those for physical health. Oregon is the first state to in clude mental health coverage on the same basis as physical- health care, Kast said, and will evalu ate the im pact that coverage has on reducing health care costs overall. Improved mental health ser vices will mean earlier iden tification and treatment for con ditions such as anxiety, depres sion and schizophrenia as well as additional services for illness such as post-traumatic stress and eating disorders, Kast said. Currently, adults have trouble receiving publicly funded men tal healih treatment unless they pose a danger to themselves or others. Ealier identification and treat ment are expected to result in Come Worship With Us at Willow Creek Baptist Church Sundays at 3 p.m. Meeting in the 7th Day Adventist Church 560 North Minor reduced costs and in fewer and shorter patient stays in state hospitals. Because only 25 percent of Oregon Health Plan covered Oregonians will receive the mental health benefit in 1995, Kast said, the state selected on ly the 10 contractors to deliver services initially. He said people in the 15 eastern Oregon counties will be covered by La Grande-based Greater Oregon Behavioral Health Inc. a nonprofit public- benefit corporation authorized by a number of counties; Ben ton county will be served by PacifiCare and the Benton County mental health program; Clackamas and Josephine by their county mental health pro grams; Coos County by the county mental health program and ODS Health Plans; and Washington County by Tuali- ty H ealth A lliance, HMO Oregon/CareMark and Sister of Providence. The state Already contract with four of the organizations, ODS health Plans, PacifiCare, HMO Oregon and Tuality Health Alliance, for physical- health services under the health plan. Kast said the state received 16 proposals from 14 organiza tions. Although all of them were acceptable, he said, the cou n ties and p lan s w ere chosen based on diverse urban and rural areas, factors such as high unemployment, and a desire to test plans offering on ly mental health services as well as those that combine ser vices for both mental and physical health. In all, the Oregon Health Plan covers about 275,000 Oregonians, both those who have been transferred to the health plan from traditional M edicaid and th ose who became eligible as a result of ex panded Medicaid eligibility ef fective last Feb. 1. That number will rise to about 340,000 on Jan. 1 as new groups, children in foster care and people who are blind or disabled or over age 65, are moved from tradi tional Medicaid in another part of what is known as “ phase 2 " of the health plan. St. Patrick’s Senior Center Bulletin Board There were 106 people present for the senior dinner Oct. 12. Members of the Baptist Church served. The senior center board met after the meal. The menu for the birthday dinner Oct. 26 will be meat loaf, scalloped potatoes, copper pennies, and upsidedown cake with topping. Members of the Episcopal Church will serve. A group of seniors took the bus to Echo for lunch and a visit to the museum, Fri. Oct. 14. Tues. Oct. 10 the volunteer group folded news letters for the Extension Service. Fri. Oct. 9 volunteers stamped addresses on and sufffed brochures for the Extension Service. There weren't any card players Fri. afternoon. Seven ladies watched the movie “ The African Q u een" Sun day Oct. 16. Bus trips schedules: Thurs. Oct. 27, Spray meal site. Thurs. Nov. 3, Columbia Basin dinner in Condon; “Fri. Nov. 11, Pendleton meal site. Other dates to remember: Mon., Bible study, 10 a.m., quilting 1-4 p.m .; knitting 7:30 to 9 p.m .; Tues. and Thurs. exercise 10 a.m .; Wed. senior meal, noon; Fri. cards 2 p.m .; Sun. movie 7 p.m. R em em ber to get your costu m es ready for the H allow een co n test at the dinner Oct. 26. Equal tax a fair tax RE-ELECT RAY FRENCH Morrow County C o m m issio n er X Experience, Integrity & Reason X Effective use of your tax dollars X A leader you can talk to Paid for by the committee to elect Ray French Barton Clark, Treasurer To The Editor After reading an editorial entitl ed “ If is sounds too good to be true, two percent is too good" that was reprinted from the Mail Tribune in Medford, I must reply to all the misinfor mation in case others may be telling the same story. There is not a two percent tax when you deposit money in your checking or savings ac count at the bank. You pay on ly if you spend. There is not a two percent tax when you withdraw money from checking or savings ac count at the bank. You pay on- Morrow County Health District “Sfoii/ing to p/toiiicfe l M omouj County kesidents with access to a J uQQ spoctAuw of) quality medicaQ sewices ly if you spend. Since taxes are an expense, businesses have always added all the property taxes, state taxes, unemployment taxes, corporate taxes, business taxes and license fees to the final cost of the products we purchase, included in which, are the taxes of the sellers of the wares to the businesses. Even though they are hidden in the cost, they are still there. Nothing will change with the two percent Equal Tax, except a different way of paying. Nobody expects to have a situation where they pay no taxes. They only hope to have a fair tax, and the two percent Equal Tax is a fair tax that everyone pays equally accor ding to what they spend. Since we all have to pay taxes, why not have a fair tax, and get a lit tle help with it from tourists, foreigners, drug dealers and tax cheats, instead of the unfair system of taxation we have now? Sincerely, (s) Betty Davis 187 Brumbach Rd. Roseburg Now Open Dependable Auto Service Foreign & Domestic Auto Repairs John Goodell 213 Linden Way 676-9946 Letters to the Editor Vote yes on Measure 20 To the Editor In the September 22, issue of the Oregonian, Fred D. Miller, who opposes the 2 percent Equal Tax Measure, stated that it would incease Oregonians' federal income taxes by $900 million in 1995. He failed to report the reason for it, which is, Oregonians will no longer be paying state income and pro perty taxes, so cannot deduct a percentage of it off their federal taxes. Also, he stated the measure would cost Oregon a revenue loss of $490 milion dollars in 1995. According to calculations of Oregon's share of national trade figures (meaning $503 billion dollars was exchanged in Oregon last year) a two per cent tax would raise more than 110 b illion d ollars. Tim e Magazine's May, 1994, edition quoted Oregon's share of the national trade figure at $503 billion in 1993. Last of all, is the complaint that it is a new and untried system. I fully expect there to be some changes and correc tions before it works smoothly, but we have got to do som ething. The legislature doesn't want to lose control of your money. Anytime they need more money, it is too easy for them to raise your taxes. Measure 20 would put you in control of your money and not the state. I'm going to vote yes on Measure 20. Sincerely, (s) Janette Kirkland 544 Fir Point Lane Glendale Measure 13 takes books from shelves To the Editor Books would be removed from library shelves if Ballot Measure 13 passes, e.g., "Bom for Liberty: A History of Women in America," AIDS, A Self-Care M anual,” “ Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" and Armistead Maupin's works. Why? Because Meaure 13 for bids public funds to be spent on Library materials that promote or exp ress approval of homosexuality. "O ther library books and issues of magazines would be restricted to adults if Measure 13 passes: "W orld Book En cyclopedia," volume eight, “ U nd erstand ing A ID S " ; "Talking Together about Love and Sexuality: For Preteens, Early Teens and Their Parents- A Christion View About the Facts of L ife," and any issue of any magazine which has an ar ticle about homosexuality. Why? Because Measure 13 says it "shall not limit the availability in public libraries of books and materials written for adults which address homosex uality, provided access to such materials is limited to adults." The Oregon Citzens Alliance, through Measure 13, is deman ding restriction of your access to library m aterials by eliminating some books and magazines from the library altogether and by restricting ac cess, based on age, to some books and magazines. The Oregon Library Associa tion is concerned that Ballot Measure 13 curtails the con stitutional right of free speech and expression. Intellectual freedom , the belief that everyone has the right to free access to all ideas, has always been a basic part of American democracy and a cornerstone of libraries in our country. To pro tect this right granted by our US. and Oregon Constitutions, The Oregon Library Associa tion urges you to vote No on Ballot Measure 13. (s) Anne Billeter P.O. Box 2042 Salem, OR Kitzhaber author anti-rural legislation To the Editor I see on TV that Dr. Kitzhaber has a plan. I'm sure that Bar bara Roberts had a plan. Ditto for Goldschmidt. Dr. John Kit zhaber ran the State Senate, passing some of the worst, anti- rural legislation that ever came out of the Oregon Legislature. The Democrats have had almost complete control of Oregon for 40 years. In that time we have gone from a pro sp erou s resource based economy to a condition where we can't even get a decent education for our kids or keep enough policemen to hold down the drug trade and all its related horrors. G overnor Roberts blames our problems on the NRA, the Religious Right, sales tax opponents and everything else except the pro grams of her fellow Democrats and fellow Eco-Freaks that have tom our resource economy and rural way of life to shreds. Are your taxes lower than when we passed "measure 5"? Is it safer to walk down our streets? Are our kids able to read and write at their grade level? Do you feel that you real ly own your porperty, or do you just occupy it and pay taxes on it? Dr. Kizhaber likes LCDC and DEQ and all the other big government programs. We can 't blame Barbara Roberts alone. One of the prin cipal authors of much of our bad legislation has been Dr. Kitzhaber. He was in the State Senate long before Roberts became governor and was president of the Senate for eight years. Plan or no plan, Dr. Kitzhaber c a n 't solve Oregon's problems. He helped create most of them and he thinks it's OK. He is the problem. Let's try something "n e w ." Let's elect Denny Smith gover nor and elect a conservative anti-tax Legislature. You know Denny can't do worse than what we have, and you know Kitzhaber will do worse. I believe Smith will be a very good governor. Please join me in helping Smith to get Oregon back on track. (s) W.L. Sullens Baker City M edicare S upplements C all P L O Y H A R IN S U R A N C E Heppner 6 7 6 -5 8 1 8 “ We handle m any com panies and can get a policy to fit your needs ”
