Observations from SB 329 Town Hall Meeting

I attended a town hall meeting hosted by Sens. Alan Bates & Ben Westlund in Springfield on March 8, 2007. The meeting was well attended by about 50 or so with a mixture of Archimedes, local/state politicos, physicians, Lane IPA and SEIU reps as well as average citizens. Both Bates and Westlund made a point of complimenting the Archimedes movement and Dr. Kitzhaber personally, characterizing their proposals as very similar. I thanked them for holding these sessions throughout the state as many can't make it to Salem. We were able to ask all the questions we wanted and they seemed willing to attempt an answer to all. Overall it was a very open process though they were very general or factually incorrect with some of their answers. Westlund, for example, managed to create a few new facts that were a surprise to some like naturopaths and chiropractors being covered under OHP (which they are not).

The general response to not including Medicare in SB 329 is that they want to get the Oregon Health Trust up and operational before they ask for federal Medicare waivers. They feel they know better than Dr. Kitzhaber in that their timing is better than under SB 27. They remarked that SB 27 will be heard on Monday. Bates also made some cryptic comment about the insurance lobby opposition should they throw in Medicare but I am not sure which of two questions he was responding to.

I spoke with Westlund after the meeting and expressed hope that they could get on the same page with John Kitzhaber. He asserted that other than Medicare they were in agreement and while he knows John is pursuing a "national agenda" he was just trying to do the best he could for Oregon. I thanked him for his work and expressed hope we could all get on board the same plan to create some real change.

Overall their tone is very positive and they are presenting themselves as linked arm in arm with Archimedes principles and the legacy created by Dr. Kitzhaber with the original Oregon Health Plan. Bates made a point of placing himself at John's side in 1989 when federal waivers were sought. To the extent there are differences between the bills they attempted to gloss over them. In fact their pitch was really to have the Archimedes/WeCanDoBetter folks as well as others join in their SB 329 movement. They acknowledged others who were more expert than they on particular issues. I would hope they listen to those they respect like Dr. Kitzhaber and amend the bill to incorporate SB 27 provisions which create the ability for Oregon to resolve our own problems with Medicare.
My sense is that the audience was very receptive although one of our senior citizen members had Bates cornered as I was heading out the door giving him an earful about Medicare and why she felt it must be part of any comprehensive solution. Bates still seems VERY resistant to addressing Medicare within their bill.

W. Bruce Mulligan SPHR
Design for Results
www.designforresults.net