HOUSE COMMITTEE ON

AUDIT & HUMAN SERVICES BUDGET REFORM

March 11, 2003 Hearing Room 50

3:00 PM Tapes 54 – 55 – 55*

MEMBERS PRESENT: Rep. Ben Westlund, Chair

Rep. Steve March, Vice Chair

Rep. Jeff Kruse

Rep. Jeff Merkley

Rep. Alan Bates

MEMBERS EXCUSED: Rep. Randy Miller

Rep. Susan Morgan, Vice-Chair

GUEST MEMBERS: Rep. Mitch Greenlick

Rep. Billy Dalto

STAFF PRESENT: Rick Berkobien, Committee Administrator

Kelly Fuller, Committee Assistant

ISSUES HEARD: Informational Meeting - Public Hearing

Public input on draft recommendations for changes to the Oregon

Health Plan and to the State's Mental Health Services

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 54, A
003	Chair Westlund	Calls the meeting to order and opens the meeting for public testimony.
INFORMATIONAL - PUBLIC HEARING
030	Margaret Taylor	Introduces herself as a Health Care Consultant and presents testimony. (EXHIBIT A)
099	Chair Westlund	Do you how many are federal requirements.
102	Taylor	Responds about the federal requirements.
105	Rep. Bates	Is it correct that you get about 8 percent overhead. If you could drop it to 7 percent, would you.
109	Taylor	Comment that yes, they do get 8 percent overhead and they would look into taking the 1 percent cut. Continues presentation.
259	Chair Westlund	Thank you for coming in to testify with real solutions.
265	Kim Scott & Robert Roy	Introduce themselves from Trillium Family Services and Children’s Farm Home, presents testimony. (EXHIBIT B)
368	Robert Roy	Shares the same concern as Kim Scott and elaborates.
TAPE, 55 A
003	Rep. Greenlick	Asks what happens if OHP goes away for big portions of this population.
011	Scott	Responds to the question about what will happen if the OHP goes away shares the costs of care and shares his beliefs about the system.
026	Rep. Greenlick	Related an experience that he had had previously, are there not some imaginative ways to come up with solutions to fix this problem.
046	Roy	Responds to the comments about solutions.
059	Chair Westlund	Sums up what he has heard in this testimony.
063	Roy	Responds about the current funding model.
074	Chair Westlund	Asks where the 5 pilots are located.
076	Scott	Responds about where the pilots are.
085	Chair Westlund	Calls the next witness to testify.
088	Debby Ammon	Home care worker, presents testimony about her health issues. (EXHIBIT C)
118	Chair Westlund	Thanks Debby for coming and expressed she was very articulate in sharing the cost shift issues we are dealing with.
125	Adrienne Daniel	Came to testify from the Oregon Health Plan, not for the Oregon Health Plan, she would like to see the health plan protected, she is in a position where she works with people who are denied coverage. Reports that staff moral is low, and states how sad this issue is and would like to stress that the committee save the OHP.
155	Chair Westlund	Asks how many clients she sees a day.
159	Daniel	States that they are required to process at least 15 applications per day.
162	Chair Westlund	Asks how many call she will field in a day.
166	Daniel	Frequently fields a dozen calls per day.
180	Chair Westlund	How many of these call do you give disturbing news to that they are denied.
186	Daniel	Comments that’s it could be 4-5 people.
194	Rep. Merkley	Asks now that Debby is unemployed will she qualify for OHP.
200	Ammon	No, because of unemployment benefits she is $25.00 over the limit.
215	Rep. Merkley	What is an estimate of the health care cost you have.
219	Rep. Bates	Has your job changed drastically as of late, with more calls etc.
225	Daniel	Yes, drastically. The phone bank staff deal with most of those calls on a frequent basis.
229	Rep. Bates	Asks how long she has been employed by the State in this position.
231	Daniel	Responds that she has been employed since Fall of 1999.
240	Chair Westlund	Calls the next witness’s to testify.
245	Ruth Shepherd	Presents testimony and asks the questions listed on (EXHIBIT D).
TAPE, 54 B
026	Chair Westlund	Makes comments about the opportunity to serve on this committee and comments that as we go forward with this it is extraordinarily difficult to do what we are doing, but if we are successful with our tasks we will be able to demonstrate a successful process.
056	Shepherd	Believes in zero based budgeting but to get all of this done in the next few weeks is beyond comprehension.
060	Chair Westlund	Comments about what a struggle this has been.
070	Rep. Greenlick	Makes comments about the systems as it is today, would like Ruth to consider what made it possible at some times for the legislature to go to the citizens and ask for more of them then we seem to be willing to ask from them now.
110	Shepherd	Responds to Rep. Greenlick’s questions about going to the citizens.
135	Chair Westlund	Comments that one of the challenges is whether or not Oregonians have recognized this problems.
145	Shepherd	Comments that she doesn’t think we are believed beyond this building and offers suggestions to do so.
156	Chair Westlund	Was impressed that the press did a good job at presenting the problem and the impact of the budget shortfall.
164	Rep. Greenlick	Has a fear that we have lost a generation that understand that altruism is a survival tool.
195	Chair Westlund	Elaborates that it would be horrible if we lost a sense of community and place.
202	Chair Westlund	Calls Phyllis Rand to testify.
207	Phyllis Rand	Capitol Coordinator for the Governor on Senior Services. Came with recommendations for the committee. Begins testimony.
348	Rep. March	Makes comments to the witnesses.
354	Shepherd	Responds to Rep. March.
359	Chair Westlund	Calls next witness to testify.
365	Susan King	Nurse, begins her testimony
TAPE, 55 B
056	Chair Westlund	Calls Marcia Kelley
059	Marcia Kelley	Supports Women’s Rights Coalition, begins testimony, concerned that the funding has been focused on first and then policy second. Asks that we please slow down, look at the policies and then the revenues.
118	Chair Westlund	Thanks Marcia for her testimony and calls the next witness to testify.
120	Gweneth Griffiths van Frank Carlson	Thanks the members for allowing her to testify and gives background of why she has come to Salem and what her passion is all about.
215	Elizabeth Byers	Represents the Mental Health Association of America, begins presentation. She came today with what she feels works for the mental health services.
229	Chair Westlund	Thanks them for their testimony and calls the next witness to testify.
235	Lynn-Marie Crider	Represents Oregon AFL-CIO and begins testimony with her cause and chooses to give suggestions and skip testimony.
010	Rep. Merkley	Assuming you are not talking about the actual provision of the health care, but are you referring to administration.
017	Crider	Responds to the question about her testimony she prepared for last session.
029	Chair Westlund	Comments about a small wordsmith issue in question 3 in (EXHIBIT E )..
031	Crider	Responds that she doesn’t think we can save that money in the long haul.
035	Chair Westlund	Questions if she is including all payrolls and is she getting into the self insured with the 1.5 percent tax.
039	Crider	Responds about the 1.5 percent tax.
045	Rep. Merkley	You say co pays are a real issue to the working poor, asks did people fail to go to the doctor because of co-pays.
065	Crider	Not the best person to answer that question.
068	Chair Westlund	Thanks everyone for their testimony and calls the meeting of public testimony to a close and adjourns 5:00pm

EXHIBIT SUMMARY

A – Informational, prepared testimony, Margaret Taylor, 29 pp

B – Informational, prepared testimony, Robert Roy, 3 pp

C – Informational, prepared testimony, Debbie Ammon, 1 p

D – Informational, Recommendations of Stakeholders groups, Ruth Sheppard, 3 pp

E – Informational, prepared testimony, Lynn-Marie Crider, 13 pp