Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 2019)
Wednesday, september 25, 2019 LOCAL HermIstOnHeraLd.COm • A3 Former Oregon governor believes new approach needed By KATHY ANEY STAFF WRITER F ormer Gov. John Kitzhaber started his keynote speech at Thursday’s health care sum- mit in Hermiston with a per- sonal story. He told of his early years as a 27-year-old Roseburg emergency room doctor fresh out of medical school and awed by the respon- sibility of caring for peo- ple who arrived at the hos- pital injured, sick, confused or frightened. Occasionally, patients died. “When I was unable to save a life, I walked across the hall to a small room where people waited for news of their loved ones,” he said. “It seemed like a long, lonely journey across 30 feet of tile floor.” In those days, he treated each individual patient with- out regard to cost, view- ing death as the enemy and treating people as individu- als. In 1978, he was elected to the Oregon House of Rep- resentatives where he was forced to look at health care from a different angle. “I came face-to-face with a fundamental contradic- tion,” he said. “As a legis- lator, I couldn’t ignore the cost.” Kitzhaber’s keynote speech this week came mid- way through the 2019 East- ern Oregon Coordinated Care Organization Clinician & Staff Summit at the East- ern Oregon Trade and Event Center. Clinicians, health care administrators and pol- icy makers sitting at white, linen-covered tables listened to Kitzhaber’s thoughts on national and state health care reform. Kitzhaber said he staff photo by Kathy aney Former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber shares his thoughts about health care delivery in Oregon on Thursday at the EOCCO Clinician & Staff Summit in Hermiston. believes we are thinking about health care all wrong on the national level. “For decades, we’ve been asking the wrong question. We’ve been asking about the subsidies and who pays,” he said. “Instead we should be asking, ‘Why does health care cost so much in the first place?’” He said price points in the U.S. are higher than most anywhere else in the world. “Why?” he asked the group. Kitzhaber ticked off sev- eral reasons. Private equity investors are buying up the most profitable parts of the system, driving up costs. Insurance companies have cut eligibility and lowered reimbursement rates. The national debt increases to pay for hikes in Medicare and Medicaid costs. “The insured uninsured” have $5,000 deductibles and “don’t really have insurance at all,” he quipped. “Cost shifting is the way we avoid confronting reality.” One way out, he said, is funding health care from a specific pot of money indexed to a sustainable growth rate. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to do in Oregon with the CCOs,” Kitzhaber said. In 2009, as a state senator, Kitzhaber helped pioneer the Oregon Health Plan. He later helped birth the state’s system of 15 coordinated care organizations, locally governed networks of health care providers who deliver care to the state’s most vul- nerable residents. The idea is to focus on prevention to get people healthy, reduce vis- its to expensive emergency rooms and lower costs. The EOCCO serves Umatilla, Morrow and 10 other East- ern Oregon counties. During the first five years, some CCOs performed bet- ter than others, but the state saved more than $1 billion. There were bumps, too, including the Cover Ore- gon disaster, and the state’s Affordable Care Act insur- ance exchange website designed by Oracle Corp., which failed spectacularly. Kitzhaber is unhappy with recent reforms to Ore- gon health care, which he Candidates begin filing for 2020 elections Only one person has filed for the May 2020 elections in Umatilla County so far By JESSICA POLLARD STAFF WRITER The 2020 elections may be months away, but the county filing period for can- didates opened on Sept. 12. So far, only one person has filed for candidacy: Dan Dorran of Hermiston filed for Umatilla County com- missioner position three. Kim Lindell, Umatilla County elections manager, said that the 2020 elections in the county are on the back burner as her office gears up for the special election that is happening on Nov.5. “I don’t want to have a discussion that is louder than the November elec- tions,” said Dorran, who is involved with two char- ter measures that are on the upcoming ballot. Voters in November will also have the chance to weigh in on several other matters, including the Hermiston School District bond measure and the for- mation of the Milton-Free- water ambulance district. Open positions in the county for the May 2020 primaries include county commissioner position No. 3, Umatilla County dis- trict attorney, and Umatilla County sheriff. Lindell said others have called to inquire about the commissioner position. For Dorran, who has previously served on sev- eral local boards including the Umatilla County Fair Board, the position would be an opportunity to pro- vide a strong voice from Umatilla County on matters ranging in scope from local scope to statewide. He said that he hasn’t begun work on his official campaign yet. “I think there are things we take for granted in Uma- tilla County. We are a logis- tical and distribution hub,” Dorran said. “Umatilla County is sitting on a good spot compared to a lot of other rural counties.” Dorran said that people had expressed an interest in him filing for candidacy as early as the last county commissioner election. “I feel extremely hum- bled that people asked me to consider running. It’s something that I’m passion- ate about and look forward to,” he said. Lindell said Umatilla County voters should keep an eye on the county web- site for updates on both the November 2019 elec- tion and the May 2020 primaries. During the May 2018 primary elections, only 13,310 ballots were cast from a pool of 42,511 reg- istered voters in Uma- tilla County. The numbers improved to over half of the registered voters later that year during the November elections. brought to attention the 2017 restructure of the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office’s command staff as a recent success in his career. “Our restructure for patrol, as well as for our communications and civil staff, has now allowed for promotional opportunities for advancement which will allow for better retention of our employees,” Matlack stated on the site. Matlack was elected to the position in 2004. His Facebook campaign page states he wants to prioritize financial responsibility and the continuation of 24-hour coverage. The other open positions for the upcoming Morrow County elections include Position 1 on the board of county commission- ers, which is currently held by Jim Doherty; treasurer, which is held by Gayle L. Gutierrez; and the county clerk position. Childers said she filed for the clerk position. Childers said that Guti- errez and Matlack were the only other two people to file for candidacy with the county so far. The deadline to file for the May 2020 primaries is March 10, 2020. If only two people are filed for a posi- tion, their election will go straight to the November 2020 ballot. “I just do it so I can get it out of the way,” said Childers. “But some peo- ple wait until the filing deadline.” “We like to keep voters apprised and active in vot- ing,” she said. “Voting sort of falls off of people’s radar in Umatilla County.” In Morrow County, only one open position for the 2020 elections has two con- tenders so far. According to Mor- row County Clerk Bobbi Childers, current Mor- row County Sheriff Ken- neth Matlack has filed to run for his position again. Another candidate, Board- man Police Department Sgt. Mark Pratt, has announced his bid for the position but hasn’t yet registered with the county. Pratt said he used to work for the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office, and that as sheriff, he would hope to enhance the office’s partnership with other stakeholders. “I would like to make sure that the victims of crimes are constantly kept in touch with by the deputy authorities,” Pratt said. He mentioned he’d be interested in adjusting the different roles and respon- sibilities at the sheriff’s office. Matlack, who is cur- rently at a conference regarding border security and immigration in Wash- ington, D.C., was not avail- able to comment before deadline. Both candidates have published campaign web- sites and Facebook pages regarding their candidacy. Matlack’s website Make a diff erence in a foster child’s life. BOX INCLUDES: • 2 T-Bones Steaks • 2 Rib Steaks • 2 New York Steaks • 2 Top Sirloin • 1 - 3-4 lb. Boneless Chuck Roast • 5 - 1 lb. Pkg Extra Lean Ground Beef 541.567.2011 253 W. Hermiston Ave. Hermiston called CCO 2.0. Last week, he sent a letter to Gov. Kate Brown, House Speaker Tina Kotek and Senate President Peter Courtney to weigh in on two developments he considers especially worrisome. He opposes new report- ing requirements that will force CCOs to hire more personnel, increase costs and “appeared to have been copied and pasted from the current insurance code.” “I am concerned that this increase in rules, reg- ulations and reporting will be particularly burden- some on smaller rural CCOs which have become import- ant community assets,” he wrote. The reforms, intended to increase oversight, may squelch the ability of locally based CCOs to operate. “These provisions and others appear to retreat from the community model based on local control and a sense of local ownership in favor of a more punitive top-down approach,” he wrote. Kitzhaber also objects to the state granting Trillium Community Health, owned by Fortune 500 company Centene Corp., to contract to administer the Oregon Health Plan in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties, in addition to Lane County, which it already administers. The governor said Ore- gon has much to lose if the CCO model goes south, including 30 years of collab- oration and a chance to pio- neer health care policy for the country as a whole. “If we lose this model, we lose the opportunity to steer the national debate,” he said. “Right now, the model is in question.” Kitzhaber resigned in 2015 under a cloud as the FBI investigated his fian- cée and first lady, Cylvia Hayes, for influence ped- dling. He left office barely a month into his fourth term as governor. Still, Kitzhaber remains a strong voice in the world of health care reform policy. A health policy pub- lication called “State of Reform” recently quoted Kitzhaber comparing him- self to Don Quixote during a private dinner in Washing- ton, D.C., where he goes fre- quently to talk about health care reform. “I think of these trips as ‘Don Quixote goes to Wash- ington,’” he said. “Health care reform is probably my windmill.” Awnings · Patio/Sun Shades Pergolas ·Patio Covers · Solar Shades Solar Screens & More! Ask about our Monthly Specials! 509-308-1354 FREE ESTIMATES! www.nwshadeco.com 102 E Columbia Dr. Kennewick 99336 License #188965 NO MORE GUTTER CLEANING, OR YOUR MONEY BACK – GUARANTEED! 0 % 15 %OFF AND! FINANCING* SENIOR & MILITARY DISCOUNTS *Contact us for additional details FREE ESTIMATES! 1-855-536-8838 Promo Number: 285 Mon-Thurs: 8am-11pm, Fri-Sat: 8am-5pm. Sun: 2pm-8pm EST CSLB# 1035795 DOPL #10783658-5501 License# 7656 License# 50145 License# 41354 License# 99338 License# 128344 License# 218294 License# 603 233 977 License# 2102212986 License# 2106212946 License# 2705132153A License# LEAFFNW822JZ License# WV056912 License# WC-29998-H17 Nassau HIC License# H01067000 Registration# 176447 Registration# HIC.0649905 Registration# C127229 Registration# C127230 Registration# 366920918 Registration# PC6475 Regis- tration# IR731804 Registration# 13VH09953900 Registration# PA069383 Suffolk HIC License# 52229-H Thursday, Sept. 26th • 3-6pm Maxwell Siding Event Center 145 N. 1st Place, Hermiston After 40 YEARS of helping families & friends buy and sell Real Estate. The time has come for Patsy to enjoy some quality time for herself and her family. (Reg. $125) ALL ARE WELCOME! Please stop by and wish Patsy well. Become a CASA Info & Training Sessions Oct 7th-18th in Pendleton and Hermiston Call a local CASA Coordinator for details! Hermiston: (541) 667-6169 Pendleton: (541) 278-6292 P.S. - It’s also her birthday! Court Appointed Special Advocate umchs.org/CASA
