legislative updates

Unlawful Trade Act for Insurers Heads to House Floor

Key Republican Rep. Dennis Richardson backs the bill sponsored by Democratic Rep. Paul Holvey, saying current law does not do enough to protect consumers
  March 27, 2013 — A measure that would remove the insurance industry’s special exemption from the Unlawful Trade Practices Act cleared the House Consumer Protection and Government Efficiency Committee with a 6-3 vote on Tuesday and heads to the House floor.
 
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Small Pharmacies Getting Squeeze from Goliath PBMs

A bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Jules Bailey and Rep. Greg Smith would regulate pharmacy benefit managers, which local pharmacists say are driving them out of business
March 27, 2013 — Central Drugs Pharmacy has been open for 110 years in downtown Portland, and it specializes in dispensing drugs for those who suffer from HIV. Read More >>

Tomei Puts Weight Behind Community Mental Health Housing

A huge backlog in housing for those with mental illness has left people confined to the Oregon State Hospital, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act
March 27, 2013 — Clackamas County Sheriff Capt. Chris Hoy is a big, burly bear of a man but when he told legislators of his mother’s fate, he burst into tears. Read More >>

Senate Gives OK to Keep Bedbug Data Secret

Multnomah County asked for the exception to public records law to allow for the voluntary reporting of bedbug infestations, but Sen. Alan Bates argued landlords should be held to same standard as filthy restaurants
March 26, 2013 — A bill allowing the Multnomah County Health Department to gather data about bedbug infestations from bug exterminators, and then withhold the details of that information from the public passed the Senate on Monday, over the objections of Sen. Alan Bates, D-Medford that the public has a right to know. Read More >>

Regence BlueCross BlueShield Defeats Efforts to Notify Consumers about Rate Hikes

Senate Bill 413 would have required insurers to inform customers of rate hikes above 7 percent, but Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson pushed for an amendment written by Regence that only requires them to let policyholders know at sign-up that such information is available on a government website
March 22, 2013 — Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, helped Regence BlueCross BlueShield and other insurers defeat a requirement that they notify consumers of pending rate hikes above 7 percent — a measure pushed by Sen. Chip Shields, D-Portland, which easily passed the Senate in the 2011 session. Read More >>

Nurse Practitioner Pay Equity Easily Passes House

Dr. Bud Pierce, president of the OMA, told The Lund Report he hopes a compromise will be forged in the Senate.
  March 20, 2013 — The Oregon House voted 39-20 to require private insurers to pay independent nurse practitioners and physician assistants at the same rate they would pay doctors for the same services.
 
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House Bill Requires Midwives to Be Licensed in Oregon

Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer said requiring the license is a first step toward including home births in the Oregon Health Plan
March 19, 2013 — At a House Health Committee hearing last week, Margarita Mareboina held up pictures of her son, who died during labor after a botched delivery by unlicensed midwives in 2011. The baby was covered in meconium, the viscous, tar-like stools of a newborn’s first bowel movement. Read More >>

Troubled Oregon Counties Turn to Cigarette Tax for Public Health

The House Revenue Committee heard two cigarette tax measures last week — one raising the cigarette tax by $1 to $2.18, the other opening the door for Oregon counties to enact their own taxes
March 18, 2013 — Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick told the House Revenue Committee Friday that the state of Oregon trusts local governments to do a lot of things — arrest people, put them in jail, set zoning ordinances, raise property taxes, even generate income taxes. Read More >>

Shields and Holvey Want Unlawful Trade Act to Cover Insurers

The powerful insurance industry is currently the only business in Oregon exempt from the act. Proposed legislation would remove that exemption and allow the Attorney General and injured parties to sue for fraud.
March 18, 2013 — Sen. Chip Shields, D-Portland and Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, rolled out legislation last week that would open up the insurance industry to torts under the state’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act and allow the attorney general to sue insurers for fraud. Read More >>

Drug Monitoring Likely To Expand, Despite ACLU Objections

The Oregon Drug Monitoring Program was enacted in 2009 to track the prescription of controlled substances, but the ACLU says private medical information was given to the Drug Enforcement Adminstration without a warrant
March 15, 2013 — Led by Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg, the Senate Health Committee voted to expand the Oregon Prescription Drug Monitoring Program this week, approving a bill by 4-1 that would allow doctors to deputize their aides to review patients’ medical records and give the state pharmacy board the ability to expand the program beyond narcotics to any medications they see fit. Read More >>
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