Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington has turned its attention to health reform. April Baer reports on the role Oregon’s congressional delegation is playing in the conversation.

Think of the Congressional health care discussions this way:

The bones of health care reform are being worked out in the Senate Health Labor and Pensions Committee.

Senator Ted Kennedy has submitted a reform bill that addresses how health care is delivered. After the July 4th weekend, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley and others will on the committee will begin marking the bill up -- adding different amendments, and filling out a structure that was left intentionally vague.

But the lifeblood of any working health care system is money.

Earl Blumenauer:   “We have a system right now that is driven too much by dollars and a formula.”

Congressman Earl Blumenauer is a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee in the House. That’s where the tough negotiations on how to pay for health care are playing out.

Blumenauer says he’s advocating for fiscal changes that will fully fund reforms, but also nudge the system toward a different model for paying doctors.

Earl Blumenauer “People are being paid to do procedures, and not deal meaningfully to deal with the patients. It’s not resulting in better care, and in some places, it’s worse care.”

Blumenauer has introduced a bill that would offer a small, five percent bonus for doctors who have a record for high-quality, low-cost care, based on regional standards.

Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee is also working on a separate health care finance bill, with the help of a third Oregonian, Senator Ron Wyden.

He’s still trying to rally support for an essential mechanism of his Healthy Americans bill. It would replace the tax break businesses get for buying health care policies, and replace it with a standard deduction.

This change may sound small, but it has potential to raise a lot of cash.

As the budget surgeons work on these corporeal changes, 5th district Congressman Kurt Schrader is still plugging away on a bill that might be described as a higher brain function in health care: comparative effectiveness research.

It’s a plan for an institute dedicated to distinguishing what works in medicine from what doesn’t. So far, the bill has received only moderate traction.