Measure 101 Oregon What You Need to Know

SALEM, Ore. – This January, voters in Oregon will receive a ballot with a single, densely worded measure on information technology. But don't dismiss this special election. Measure out 101 could touch insurance coverage and premiums for hundreds of thousands of Oregon residents, and $1 billion – or more – in state and federal funds.

The measure relates to a bill passed past state legislators in July, which would temporarily tax some hospitals, insurance companies and a few other entities to make up for a Medicaid funding shortfall. Some phone call it a "provider tax," some an "assessment," but what it ways is that several health care providers and organizations volition pay a little extra for the adjacent two years, and some people could come across a slight increment in their insurance premiums, in gild to keep low-income Oregonians insured.

The nib had bipartisan support and was signed by the governor, but a entrada led past Rep. Julie Parrish (R-Tualatin/Due west Linn) garnered plenty signatures to go the measure on a Special Election ballot.

Now, voters will be asked on Jan. 23, 2018 whether to approve the additional funding.

Even though the signature campaign got the measure on the election, Parrish opposes the measure and hopes the Special Election gets rid of the provider tax.

Supporters of the measure out say a "yes" vote will preserve health care for depression-income Oregonians, go along insurance rates stable for individuals who buy their own insurance, and protect hospitals from costly visits from uninsured patients flooding emergency rooms. The opposition campaign says a "no" vote will stop a $330 million tax that could ultimately trickle downwards to individuals, small employers, school districts, colleges, hospitals and public employee insurance plans.

Here's what you need to know about the measure earlier yous vote.

What Measure 101 would do :

If Measure out 101 passes, the bill Oregon legislators passed in July - House Pecker 2391 – would be protected. That means for the next 2 years, many insurance companies, hospitals and other wellness care providers would be taxed betwixt 0.7 and ane.v percent.

That money would bridge the gap in Medicaid funding, created past a state upkeep shortfall and federal cuts, to proceed low-income residents on the Oregon Health Plan. The tax would be leveraged for more federal Medicaid dollars, and so supporters say the couple hundred million raised past the country over ii years would ultimately land Oregon as much as $1.3 billion, or more, in country and federal funds. This is not a new idea. Hospitals take been assessed for more than a decade in Oregon to garner more federal coin with success.

Supporters of Measure 101 say a "yep" vote means 350,000 low-income Oregonians who are at risk of losing their wellness insurance due to Medicaid cuts would be able to stay on the Oregon Wellness Plan. The opposition says that number is a lilliputian lower – but either way, at to the lowest degree a couple hundred thousand Oregonians would get to keep their current insurance through the land.

Twenty percent of the revenue enhancement would besides fund what is called a "reinsurance" programme, which is basically an insurance program for insurance companies. That pool of money would partially reimburse insurance companies for extremely expensive care, such as neonatal intensive care visits, cancer treatments or catastrophic accidents. The reinsurance program already reduced 2018 insurance rates past 6 percent for individuals who purchase insurance on the open market, over what they would take paid otherwise. That's what supporters of Measure 101 mean when they say that insurance rates are stabilized.

Who pays the revenue enhancement :

Insurance companies, managed care organizations (like PPOs and HMOs) and the Public Employee's Benefit Board (which provides wellness insurance to public employees in Oregon) would be taxed one.5 percentage on insurance premiums.

Many hospitals would also pay a 0.vii percent assessment on cyberspace revenue. Rural hospitals wouldn't exist taxed.

Modest groups that buy health insurance for employees will see a 1.5 percent increase on their health insurance as insurance companies can pass on the taxation to them. Large groups that negotiate with insurance companies could see higher premiums as well, simply their rates are not gear up past the nonpartisan state Section of Consumer and Business organization Services (DCBS). Insurance companies are not allowed to increase rates by more than than 1.5 percent considering of Measure out 101.

Supporters of the measure say those are the only entities that will pay anything – everyone else is exempt. Individuals who purchase insurance on the open market actually pay less considering of the reinsurance program.

The fine impress of the reinsurance plan kickback is that while Measure 101 allows insurers to heighten rates up to 1.5 percentage to make up for the tax, because of the stability created by the reinsurance program, private rates for 2018 dropped past vii.5 percent relative to what they would have been otherwise (netting a 6 pct savings). Rates nevertheless increased, merely not as much as they would have without reinsurance.

"That 1.5 percent assessment averages out to $5 per person per month," explained Jake Sunderland, spokesman for the DCBS. "For $5 a month the assessment is able to fund a reinsurance program [that saves] most $25-$30, on average, per person per month."

Rep. Parrish besides says that colleges could enhance tuition and hospitals volition increment prices to make up the difference, although that claim at this bespeak is theoretical.

Who supports Measure 101 :

Virtually all entities that stand up to exist taxed back up the measure. The Yeah for Healthcare campaign has compiled a listing of supporters that includes Kaiser, Legacy, PeaceHealth and Providence hospitals, AARP Oregon, the Oregon Clan of Hospitals and Health Systems, and dozens of other organizations.

Entrada finance reports show many of these organizations contributed generously to the Yes for Healthcare campaign.

"It is endorsed past more than 80 organizations, including AARP-Oregon, nurses, and child advocates," said Patty Wentz, spokeswoman for the Aye for Healthcare campaign. "When you take a plan backed by all these organizations and lawmakers on both side of the aisle, voters tin can exist confident it is well-vetted and will do what it says it will."

Information technology's not that hospitals and other health care companies benevolently welcome an additional taxation; instead, the extra funding will come back to hospitals and other intendance organizations in the form of Medicaid payments. It besides keeps them from having to provide emergency treat uninsured patients who tin't pay their bills.

"At the terminate of the day nosotros all pay for that care," said Andy Van Pelt, Executive Vice President of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. "This is a way to prevent that and go on things stable for the fourth dimension being."

People who work in health care fear without Measure 101 they could encounter pre-Affordable Care Act levels of uninsured people waiting until their health problems are unmanageable before showing up in emergency rooms, and and then grappling with expensive treatment options.

"Before the [AHA] expansion you'd have someone come in and nosotros'd say, 'You need a True cat Browse,' and they'd say, 'I can't afford it,'" said J.R. McLain, an emergency room nurse who works at Providence Portland Medical Center. "For me, as a nurse, it was heartbreaking. To only look at somebody and see them struggling with this decision – practice I get this CAT Scan and see in that location'southward something I need to exist treated for or exercise I pay my hire? Sometimes they would get it done and sometimes they wouldn't."

Who opposes Measure 101 :

Rep. Parrish leads the opposition of Measure 101, along Rep. Cedric Hayden (R-Roseburg). The two legislators both take committees donating to the opposition campaign, End Healthcare Taxes.

In addition, Parrish said Patty Buehler, the married woman of Rep. Knute Buehler (R-Bend), has personally donated to the campaign.

"We are sort of like a really small grassroots campaign," Parrish said. "The state says, 'Purchase health care, we'll taxation you.' Health intendance is a basic homo need but taxing it doesn't make it cheaper."

What happens if Measure 101 passes :

If Measure 101 passes, for the adjacent two years about everyone who qualifies for the Oregon Health Plan will go along to be covered under the programme.

Hospitals, insurance companies and other wellness care organizations in Oregon will be assessed between 0.7 and 1.5 percent.

The reinsurance program will be funded through 2019. For individuals and small businesses, insurance rates take already been set for 2018 and those rates tin't change. In 2019, rates for individuals will see a discount once more considering of the reinsurance plan, likely around half-dozen percent over what they would be otherwise, according to the DCBS. Small businesses will see an increase of 1.5 percent considering of the mensurate.

Rep. Parrish says some other groups of people will pay actress considering of the health care revenue enhancement – students, for example, could pay an extra one.5 percentage, she says. The DCBS refutes that claim as the reinsurance plan actually keeps insurance rates lower for individuals who buy insurance through healthcare.gov.

Parrish also says schools and other big groups who purchase health insurance for their staff will come across rate increases in 2019 due to the assessment. If they are large enough to be part of a large group programme, their rates are not prepare by the DCBS and those groups negotiate rates with insurance companies. At that place's no mode to know at this bespeak whether the 1.5 percent tax would trickle down to all large-group employees but it's possible.

What happens if Measure 101 fails :

If Mensurate 101 fails, the health intendance safety cyberspace House Neb 2391 created will start to unravel; nonetheless, what that looks like is a bit dingy at this point. Ii groups of people could be hit hard: Oregonians who are currently insured under the Oregon Health Plan, and individuals who purchase health insurance through the exchange.

More uninsured

If the mensurate fails, the state will have to either cutting coverage for big groups of people, reduce coverage, pay providers less, come with a lot of extra coin to make upward for the loss, or some combination of the options.

The Oregon Health Authorization says there are three groups of people that could take the hit for the money gap: Either 350,000 adults and children who had been covered past the Medicaid expansion nether the Affordable Intendance Human action; 120,000 children who are covered under the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP); or the few hundred women with cancer who are covered under the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program. The most probable scenario is to cut coverage for 350,000 people, just that has yet to be decided.

"If 101 doesn't pass the insurance tax volition not go into effect, which will get out a budget pigsty of $210 million," said Mary Sawyers, spokeswoman for the Oregon Health Authority. "The legislature will accept to instruct us what to do during the Feb session."

Reinsurance ends

The reinsurance program volition as well end, although there is plenty money squirreled away to go on the program funded through 2018. In 2019, nevertheless, rates volition rise and some Oregon counties could detect themselves without any options for wellness insurance through healthcare.gov, meaning no i who lives in those counties could benefit from financial assistance through the Affordable Intendance Act.

"2019 is where it gets ugly," said DCBS spokesman Jake Sunderland. "At a minimum, rates are guaranteed to go upwardly past at least six percent in the individual market and at that place is a very loftier risk that insurance companies might determine to stop offering coverage in rural areas or other expensive markets where it'due south hard to become carriers to participate today even with reinsurance."

Compromise possible

Rep. Parrish said the doomsday scenarios are not set in stone. She notes that the Legislature volition run across for a brusque session in 2018 and could get some other options passed. She suggested ideas such as moving public employee health care coverage to the health care exchange or adding more taxes to tobacco products.

"I hope that my colleagues are ready for some compromise in the short session," Parrish said. "If voters vote no and say we're paying you to solve our bug and compromise and we don't do it, shame on the states. I hope every voter in the country holds the states accountable in November."

Published Nov. 21, 2017

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Source: https://www.kgw.com/article/news/politics/measure-101-what-you-need-to-know-before-you-vote/283-493795942

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