New legislation, which is now on Oregon Gov. Kate Brown's (D) desk, is intended to limit health care company mergers and stem rising medical costs, as well as providing greater transparency.
House Bill 2362, or the Equal Access to Care Act, will give voice to everyday folks who haven't had one, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 49 Political Director Felisa Hagins said, according to the Tillamook Headlight Herald and the North Coast Citizen.
"For the first time, communities will have a say in their health care. No more deals made behind closed doors. Health and access to care will come first, not profit margins for health systems,” Hagins told the Tillamook Headlight Herald. "We’ve seen how this has played out for our state’s residents: Big health care systems have been able to use their market power to raise prices and rake in profits, while an astonishing 70% of Oregonians report concerns covering their personal health care costs."
SEIU Local 49 represents more than 15,000 workers in Oregon, including hospital employees and others in the health care industry.
The SEIU local has been among many vocal supporters of the legislation, according to the legislative floor letter issued for the bill. Supporters include the ACLU of Oregon, Cascade AIDS Project and Prism Health, Basic Rights Oregon, Forward Together, Compassion & Choices, NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon, the Oregon Nurses Association and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon.
"We support the Equal Access to Care Act because patients and communities continue to experience unsustainable price increases when they're left out of the conversation. Put patients first in health care deals!" Local 49 said in a Feb. 23 Facebook post.
On June 26, the Oregon Senate passed HB 2362, the Equal Access to Care Act, along party lines to create a community oversight process for health care transactions, including mergers, acquisitions and other health care-related partnerships.
The legislation is intended to make it harder for health care systems, insurance companies and other industry entities to merge or join in any way, which has been blamed for rising health care costs.
"House Bill 2362 is a critical tool to ensure Oregon individuals and families in every part of our state are able to access the health care they deserve," Oregon Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward (D-Northwest Portland), an instructor at Oregon Heath & Sciences University who carried the bill on the Senate floor, told Oregon Senate Democrats after the 16-12 Senate passage. "Time and again we have seen these mergers harm Medicaid patients, who are disproportionately BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) Oregonians. We also know these mergers can make access to health care exceedingly more challenging for rural communities."
