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
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