SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

March 26, 2001 Hearing Room B

1:00 PM Tapes 63 - 64

MEMBERS PRESENT: Sen. Bill Fisher, Chair

Sen. Margaret Carter, Vice-Chair

Sen. Gary George

Sen. Frank Shields

Sen. Ken Messerle

MEMBER EXCUSED:

STAFF PRESENT: Rick Berkobien, Administrator

Jennifer Simmons, Committee Assistant

MEASURES HEARD: SCR 8 Public Hearing and Work Session

SB 9 Public Hearing

SB 927 Public Hearing

These minutes are in compliance with Senate and House Rules. Only text enclosed in quotation marks reports a speaker’s exact words. For complete contents, please refer to the tapes.

TAPE/#	Speaker	Comments
TAPE 63, A
003	Chair Fisher	Opens the meeting at 1:25 p.m. Opens a public hearing on SB 927.
PUBLIC HEARING – SB 927
006	Rick Berkobien	Administrator. Gives brief overview of the bill.
035	Sen. Carter	Introduces two students that are observing the committee meeting in the audience.
045	Tom Holt	Oregon State Pharmacists Association. Reads from written testimony (EXHIBIT A).
089	Sen. Carter	Says that she does not like the idea of being required to have a primary pharmacist.
096	Holt	Says that the purpose is to allow an enrollee to select a pharmacy and commit to it.
104	Sen. Carter	Says that she understands this but it irritates her that we have to go from having a primary doctor to having a primary pharmacy.
121	Sen. Minnis	Testifies in favor of the bill. Says that uninsured seniors are at greatest risk to not receive necessary prescription drugs. Explains what this bill would do to alleviate the problem.
174	Sen. Sheilds	Asks how large of a demographic we are talking about.
180	Sen. Minnis	Answers about 35,000 senior citizens. Says that the ultimate cost would be eleven and a half million dollars
228	Sen. Messerle	Says that Brookings Harbor has the highest percentage of seniors in the state. Asks if Sen. Minnis has reviewed SB 9.
235	Sen. Minnis	Answers that he has not reviewed SB 9.
251	Rep. V. Walker	Testifies in favor of the bill. Submits written materials (EXHIBIT B). Explains the difference between her House Bill 3774 and this bill. Says that her father in law has spent over $3000 a year for prescription medications.
332	Rep. Bates	States his support of the bill. Speaks about seniors suffering due to the rising cost of prescription drugs. Says that as a physician he has hospitalized many patients because they could not afford their drugs and stopped taking them. Suggests a different way of handling the co-pay section of the bill.
420	Sen. Sheilds	Asks about low income people whose hospital costs are often paid by the state.
445	Rep. Bates	Answers that it would certainly save money if these people could take their medications without worry about cost. Gives an example of a senior whose hospital costs far out weighed the price of his medications.
TAPE 64, A
013	Sen. Sheilds	Asks if the state paid any of this hospital cost.
022	Rep. Bates	Answers that he was uninsured and paid none of his hospital bill.
037	Jim Davis	Oregon Council of Senior Citizens. States his support of the bill. Reiterates the point that other health care costs would be avoided if people could afford their medications. Says that thirty percent of all prescription users are seniors. Speaks about co-payments.
100	Sen. Carter	Says that Democrats do support seniors when it comes to prescription drugs. Explains that most people would prefer to have a choice. Asks if he agrees with the numbers provided by Sen. Minnis.
115	Davis	Answers that those numbers were regarding his specific district. Explains the benefits of using one pharmacy.
133	Sen. Carter	Responds that all of these pharmacies are big chains and are not capable of providing the customized care that he is speaking of.
155	Dan Kaplan	Department of Human Services. Reads from written testimony (EXHIBIT C).
188	Sen. Sheilds	Asks how we can have such varied fiscal amounts for this bill.
200	Hersh Crawford	Office of Medical Assistance Program. Answers by going through the assumptions they used to create their fiscal impact statement.
256	Sen. Sheilds	Asks if they can provide this formula in writing.
261	Crawford	Answers that he can provide this.
270	Sen. Messerle	Asks if there are other ideas that are being brought forward that can provide better service without this fiscal amount.
282	Crawford	Answers that the only bill he knows of is SB 876.
295	Sen. Messerle	Asks if he is familiar with SB 9.
297	Crawford	Answers that he is not.
307	Sen. Fisher	Closes public hearing on SB 927 and opens public hearing on SCR 8.
PUBLIC HEARING – SCR 8
316	Berkobien	Explains the bill.
361	Mary Slawosky	American Association of Retired People. Reads from written testimony (EXHIBIT D).
440	Jim Davis	Oregon Council of Senior Citizens. Reads from written testimony (EXHIBIT E).
TAPE 63, B
078	Brad Fields	Legislative Assistant, Senator Trow. Says that he is there to speak for Sen. Trow who is in favor of this bill.
109	Mike Canton	Sacred Heart Medical Center. Reads from written testimony (EXHIBIT F).
152	Rita VanDoren	OSU College of Pharmacy. Explains her experience with the program that Canton is speaking of.
174	Dr. Yves Vimignon	Oregon Medical Education Program. Reads from written testimony (EXHIBIT G).
246	Verna VanDuynhoven	Oregon Nurses Association. States their support of the bill. Says that she as seen many seniors die prematurely due to incorrect dosages of prescription drugs.
264	Chair Fisher	Closes public hearing on SCR 8 and opens work session on SCR 8.
WORK SESSION – SCR 8
273	Sen. George	MOTION: Moves SCR 8 be sent to the floor with a BE ADOPTED recommendation.
281		VOTE: 5-0
	Chair Fisher	Hearing no objection, declares the motion CARRIED. SEN. CARTER will lead discussion on the floor. Closes work session on SCR 8 and opens public hearing on SB 9.
PUBLIC HEARING – SB 9
299	Sen. Messerle	Testifies in favor of the bill. Says that this will help gain access for prescription drugs for low income citizens. Explains the bill and how it would be managed and implemented.
360	Chair Fisher	Enters a letter from the Oregon Health Resources Commission into the record (EXHIBIT H). Enters a letter from Sen. Clarno into the record (EXHIBIT I).
375	Sen. Sheilds	Asks what the reaction of pharmaceutical representatives is to this bill.
394	Sen. Messerle	Answers that they have not been in contact with him.
414	Sen. Sheilds	Asks if this bill could create an opportunity to collaborate with pharmaceutical representatives.
423	Sen. Messerle	Answers that this bill would keep them individual.
TAPE 64, B
001	Wayne Kradjan	Oregon State University. Speaks from written material (EXHIBIT J).
052	Jim Davis	Oregon State Council of Senior Citizens. Expresses their strong support of SB 9. Says that they would like to see a more cooperative system to make all of these programs available to all who meet the criteria.
085	Sen. Sheilds	Asks how much of the seniors that are hooked into the web would meet the criteria.
087	Davis	Answers that those hooked into the web are probably at a higher income level.
089	Sen. Carter	Says that many of the low income seniors can get access to the internet.
096	Davis	Stresses that internet access is growing and there is also the 800 phone number.
103	Berkobien	Asks if there is any way to project the savings to the state.
108	Kradjan	Answers that he cannot give an exact dollar amount.
124	Davis	Responds that when access is increased it does have an aspect on other parts of health care costs.
138	Chair Fisher	Thanks the witnesses for testifying. Adjourns the meeting at 3:00 p.m.

Submitted By, Reviewed By,

Jennifer Simmons, Rick Berkobien,

Committee Assistant Administrator

EXHIBIT SUMMARY

A – written testimony, SB 927, Tom Holt, 1 pp

B – written materials, SB 927, Rep. V. Walker, 4 pp

C – written testimony, SB 927, Dan Kaplan, 1 pp

D – written testimony, SCR 8, Mary Slawosky, 1 pp

E – written testimony, SCR 8, Jim Davis, 2 pp

F – written testimony, SCR 8, Mike Canton, 1 pp

G – written testimony, SCR 8, Dr. Yves Vimignon, 2 pp

H – written testimony, SB 9, Oregon Health Resources Commission, 1 pp

I – written testimony, SB 9, Sen. Clarno, 1 pp

J – written testimony, SB 9, Wayne Kradjan, 1 pp