legislative updates

House Passes Bill Allowing County Cigarette Taxes

Rep. Mitch Greenlick tells The Lund Report he would like the threat of county-by-county taxes to be used as leverage for a statewide cigarette tax increase, which would still assist county health departments.
April 5, 2013 — Oregon counties are one step closer to adopting their own cigarette taxes, after the House voted 31-29 to remove a statute from state law that precludes any entity but the state from taxing tobacco. Read More >>

Cultural Competency Training Compromise Likely to Become Law

Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer forged a bill to allow cultural competency as part of education requirements of the state medical boards, earning the support of both the Urban League and Republicans.
April 5, 2013 — Oregon took a step toward acknowledging its increasing racial diversity when the House Health Committee passed a cultural competency bill for medical professionals that heads to the House floor next week. Read More >>

Tanning Lobby Wins Concessions on Teen Tan Ban

Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, favors limiting the ban to 17, over the objections of the Knight Cancer Institute that 17-year-olds are most at-risk of developing melanoma from tanning beds
  April 5, 2013 -- The tanning lobby won a major concession today in the Senate Health Committee, which voted to scale back a ban on carcinogenic tanning beds for minors.
 
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Health Committee Approves Bill to Offset 2014 Premium Hikes

A closed-door task force crafted HB 3458, the Oregon Reinsurance Program, after a consultant reported insurance premiums on the individual market would climb 38% next year. The program assesses insurers $4 per policy per month, a decline from current state assessments.
  April 4, 2013 — The House Health Committee has unanimously passed major reinsurance legislation, designed to offset the spike in premium rates next year when insurers are required to accept thousands of sick people who had previously been denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions such as cancer and heart disease.
 
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Oregon House Votes to Include Insurers in Consumer Fraud Act

Sen. Chip Shields told The Lund Report he expects the Senate to pass the measure, which would remove the unique exception insurance companies such as Regence BlueCross BlueShield have from the Unlawful Trade Practices Act.
April 3, 2013 — Seven years ago, Regence BlueCross BlueShield blithely declared that Azusa Suzuki was dead and refused to honor a supplemental insurance claim after she was injured in a car accident. Read More >>

Planned Parenthood Wants Pregnancy Centers to Display Their Services

Similar measures to require anti-abortion counseling centers to display signs have run afoul of the First Amendment and have been struck down by federal courts. SB 490 would require centers to display signs that they have no medical staff and do not offer prenatal care, contraceptives or abortions.
  April 3, 2013 — Planned Parenthood is pushing Senate Bill 490, which would require crisis pregnancy centers to declare upfront in signs whether they offer abortion, contraceptive or adoption services and if patients will receive services from a medical provider.
 
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House Bill 3000 Requires Children to Have Eyes Checked for School

Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin, offers emotional testimony recounting how his mother was told he was stupid because he couldn’t read by third grade when he just needed glasses
  April 1, 2013 — Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin, as the co-chairman of the Joint Ways & Means Committee, presides over much of the budget and has to be well-versed on statistics and figures.
 
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Insurance Division Lowers Requirements for Health Insurance Sold Outside Cover Oregon

At the request of Regence BlueCross BlueShield and Lifewise, the state will require a silver plan, but not a gold plan to sell health insurance outside the exchange. All insurers selling health plans in Cover Oregon must still offer a gold plan.
March 29, 2013 — Oregon’s Insurance Division changed a requirement that all insurers offering plans outside the Cover Oregon exchange next year offer a gold-level plan following a request from insurers such as Regence BlueCross BlueShield and Lifewise Health Plan. Read More >>

House Committee Votes to Require Insurers to Pay for Court-Ordered Treatment

Regence BlueCross BlueShield opposes the provision, arguing to keep current law where private insurers have the option to deny claims for alcohol or drug treatment if it’s a result of a DUII or other conviction
March 29, 2013 — People with drug and alcohol addictions who end up in treatment as a result of a DUII will get their treatment picked up by insurance if a bill sponsored by Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, becomes law. Read More >>

Courtney Wants $4.9 Million for Scholars for a Healthy Oregon

Senate Bill 2 would give scholarships to 40 aspiring providers and has strong bipartisan support, but funding the program remains a question
March 28, 2013 — The Oregon Legislature is considering yet another measure to make the price of medical school more affordable, this one with the backing of Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem. Read More >>
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