Spanning the State: "A Hidden Health Tax" by: nothstine Sun Jun 28, 2009 at 16:21:53 PM PDT

As part of the Obama Administration's push on health care reform, they've launched a website called healthreform.gov, with video clips, newsy stories, and the like.  It also features a state-by-state breakdown from a report called "The Hidden Costs of Health Care: Why Americans Are Paying MORE and Getting LESS."   The Oregon numbers include: Roughly 2.2 million people in Oregon get health insurance on the job, where family premiums average $13,436, about the annual earning of a full-time minimum wage job. To sum up: If you have an extra person you can put to work full-time at minimum wage just to pay the rest of the family's premiums, you're good to go. On the other hand, if you wanted to knock a little over 10% off that $13K figure, you could start here: Oregon businesses and families shoulder a hidden health tax of roughly $1,400 per year on premiums as a direct result of subsidizing the costs of the uninsured. That $1,400 mainly goes toward people who get their primary care--their only care, actually--at emergency rooms.  That's a double-whammy; it means they're not getting preventive care, and they're not getting any care until whatever's wrong has escalated to ER-levels. It always amuses me that many defenders of the American health care status-quo do so in the name of the legendary efficiency of the free market--as if "efficiency" (or "free markets") had anything to do with a delivery system like this. In fact, although Oregon's health care is rated "average" overall, preventive care--which drives down costs and keep us out of hospitals (or emergency rooms)--isn't much to brag about here: 10 percent of children in Oregon are obese. 19 percent of women over the age of 50 in Oregon have not received a mammogram in the past two years. 33 percent of men over the age of 50 in Oregon have never had a colorectal cancer screening. 73 percent of adults over the age of 65 in Oregon have received a flu vaccine in the past year. More numbers: 17 percent of people in Oregon are uninsured, and 69 percent of them are in families with at least one full-time worker. The percent of Oregonians with employer coverage is declining: from 64 to 58 percent between 2000 and 2007. While small businesses make up 79 percent of Oregon businesses,9 only 46 percent of them offered health coverage benefits in 2006. Choice of health insurance is limited in Oregon. Providence Health & Services alone constitutes 25 percent of the health insurance market share in Oregon, with the top two insurance providers accounting for 48 percent. Compare how other states fare and you'll find the verses are different, but the chorus is the same: spiraling costs are driving Americans away from health care, and competition among providers is woefully slim. Time to Span the State. [More after the jump, including the return of StS True Animal Stories!]

nothstine :: Spanning the State: "A Hidden Health Tax"

--------------- This week the SCOTUS, in Forest Grove School District v. T.A., reaffirmed that public school districts (in this case, Forest Grove) can be on the hook for tuition when parents of special-needs children move them to private schools for treatment or programs that the public schools can't provide. The ruling concerned a narrow question: Did the right of parents to seek reimbursement from their public school district extend even to cases where the student in question had never received special-ed services from the district in the first place?  SCOTUS (or at least SCOTUS minus Souter, Scalia, and Thomas) said yes. --------------- This week the steady increase in Oregon gas prices since the first of the year leveled off, and even dropped a couple of cents to $2.792/gal. Cheapest reported pump price:  $2.59/gal at the Arco station, 61122 S US-97 Bus & Murphy Rd, in Bend. Highest reported pump price: $2.99/gal at the Chevron station, 5325 Denver St SE & 2nd St, in Turner.  (Note that the traditional winner in this category, the H P Car Wash in Eugene, barely placed this week, coming in a dime cheaper than the winner.  Go figure.) --------------- One thing I believe is that, if defending the First Amendment doesn't hurt, you're not doing it right.  This case from Oregon City hurts a lot, especially coming from a state with otherwise-robust free speech protections: The first test of Oregon's faith-healing law heads to court this week. At the center of the case is a couple, Carl and Raylene Worthington, who belong to the Followers of Christ church. They face manslaughter and criminal mistreatment charges in the death of their 15-month old daughter, Eva, who died in 2009 from pneumonia as they prayed for her recovery. Authorities say her condition could have been easily treated. The Worthington's maintain they have a right to rely on faith healing. A 1999 Oregon law forbids parents from relying on faith healing and not seeking medical help when a child's life is at sake. Eva was 15 months old. The law eliminated a spiritual healing exemption in some manslaughter and criminal mistreatment cases. I have no sympathy for what the parents in this case did; I think "medieval" is the correct adjective.  On the other hand, First Amendment freedoms that only extend to those practices that everyone considers sensible and non-horrific don't really count for much. Right now the case is in the pre-trial motion phase.  I'll watch it with interest, but this is one of those cases where no one will come out the winner--least of all poor Eva. --------------- This session the legislature passed a ban on cell phone use while driving. Will they need to pass a similar ban on cell phone use while stupid, or is existing law up to the task in this case from Woodburn: When a suspect being chased by police rolled his car over police spike strips and his tires went flat, he dashed into a field of grass where he thought he could hide. The police called out a dog and handler to find the driver. And then they heard a cell phone ring. The ring tone led them to a 48-year-old man. He was booked on multiple charges, including parole violation. --------------- Now we can add beef to the list. --------------- Those among you who consider sine die more of a prayer than a political term of art may consider this item from Jeff Mapes as signaling some good news: [...] Sen. Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, was telling me that legislative leaders are working on a plan to start the next regular session a month later, in February of 2011. The idea, she said is that the Legislature would still aim for an end-of-June adjournment, thus saving some money (per diem for the 90 legislators is more than $9,000 a day alone). As part of it, Walker said there would be some additional restrictions aimed at keeping down the length of the session. Of course, it's easier to keep down the length of the session as long as there's one-party control in Salem. Things could change if the Republicans get their hands on some of the levers of power. I'd probably feel more optimistic myself about reducing the session in Salem by 16% if I could be convinced there would be 16% less stuff that needed to get done. But that could just be me. --------------- This week's StS True Animal Story comes from Yachats, and tells the story of a woman who loved unwisely: An Oregon judge Thursday ordered a woman to move out of her rural home for three years as part of her probation for feeding bears from the neighboring forest. Karen Noyes, 61, of Yachats, also was ordered to stay out of the neighborhood, which has become a hangout for black bears who wandered in for the tasty handouts. Noyes was convicted in a Newport courtroom on charges of chasing and harassing wildlife after Oregon wildlife agents testified they had warned Noyes as early as 2003 that she should not be feeding the bears that lived in the nearby woods. The Oregonian coverage of this story includes an undated photo of Noyes, uhm, "harassing" an unidentified bear with a bunch of grapes.  It also notes that local bears, lured close to human habitat by Noyes' handouts, had menaced her neighbors, including killing dozens of farm turkeys and trying against all odds to squeeze in through another home's pet door. The UPI article on this story also noted that one local homeowner "had a bear shot after it menaced his ex-wife," proving that romance, at least, is not dead. The judge, in his ruling, offered up one of the creepier admonishments from the history of Oregon jurisprudence: "I commend you for loving the animals," the judge said. But he added: "It's not enough to love. You have to love the right way and you still haven't." --------------- Tune in to the (Thom Hartmann Show on KPOJ AM620 tomorrow morning between 7.30and 8.00 to hear Carl, Christine, and Paul match wits with TJ on the weekly Spanning the State Challenge!   ---------------

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