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A health care worker pushes a gurney passed other workers in blue scrubs inside a hospital through a corridor.

Inside Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland. | LYNNE TERRY/THE LUND REPORT

Unions, hospitals strike larger deal around minimum staffing compromise

Compromise on nurse-to-patient ratios includes union support for other hospital-backed bills

Mar 28, 2023
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Members of the Oregon House of Representatives on March 21, 2023. | JAKE THOMAS/THE LUND REPORT

Lawmakers seek pause on new Oregon Health Plan contracts

Oregon is modifying its unique Medicaid system while resuming member eligibility checks

Mar 28, 2023
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Andrew Johnson says his friends think he’s crazy for deciding to work in human services. He knows he made the right career choice for himself, but he still wants to be able to afford a house in Montana someday. | KEELY LARSON/KHN

Behavioral health providers scramble to keep remaining staff amid Medicaid rate debate

Not just an Oregon problem, the supply of staff is inadequate to meet demand for behavioral health care across the U.S. amid low reimbursement rates

Mar 28, 2023

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont speaking at a town meeting at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 18, 2015. | GAGE SKIDMORE/CC BY-SA 2.0

Sen. Sanders shows fire, seeks modest goals, in his debut drug hearing as health chair

With little authority over drug prices, the platform Sanders commands is essentially a bully pulpit

Mar 28, 2023

NATALIA MERZLYAKOVA/FOTOLIA

How Cigna saves millions by having its doctors reject claims without reading them

Cigna disputes that it allows its doctors to instantly reject a claim on medical grounds without opening the patient file

Mar 27, 2023

Oregon Capitol in Salem. | JAKE THOMAS/THE LUND REPORT

Key deadline brings Oregon lawmakers’ priorities into focus

But uncertainty hovers over how to pay for more health care workers and mental health services

Mar 27, 2023
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The Capitol Building in Salem, Ore., on March 21, 2023. | JAKE THOMAS/THE LUND REPORT

Oregon lawmakers consider expanding insurance coverage for gender-affirming care

A bill aimed at strengthening access to abortion and gender-affirming care would require insurers to pay for laser hair removal and facial feminization surgery

Mar 27, 2023

ILLUSTRATION BY SHUTTERSTOCK

Portland school district teaches advocacy group’s substance-use curriculum

Some middle and high schoolers in Portland Public Schools learn about harm reduction from the Drug Policy Alliance, a pro-drug legalization group

Mar 23, 2023
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The Healthy Communities Coalition organizes a few mobile dental events each year in Lyon County, Nevada, funded by a mix of federal and state grants. | WENDY MADSON