Authors
This Fall, The Chamber of Medford & Jackson County is launching the Health Care Action Team to bring together local health care providers, educators and businesses to form a grassroots effort to advocate for health care sustainability in the Rogue Valley.
Health care in Oregon is at a tipping point, and we have been seeing service reductions and closures, consolidation and skyrocketing insurance costs.
As the demographics of southern Oregon trend older, and local businesses decrease their footprint, additional pressures are placed on hospitals and independent providers – as labor, supply and pharmaceutical costs increase, while reimbursements for Medicaid and Medicare continue to reimburse at below the cost of care. This in turn shifts costs to employers – through higher premiums, copays and deductibles, as they are expected to cover the difference.
These are systemic challenges that cannot be fixed by efficiency measures – and they require coordinated regional and statewide stakeholder involvement. We are lucky to have a strong and involved delegation of local elected officials that represent our local communities in Salem – and the Health Care Action Team will help develop and recommend policy priorities, as well as identify our region-specific needs that we can push for advocacy on.
Health care touches everyone – whether as a patient, provider or employer-sponsor – and now more than ever, we need to work together to help reshape what health care will look like in our own community in the future.
We applaud the Medford Chamber for prioritizing this work and creating a forum where health care providers, educators and employers can work together to address these challenges. We look forward to contributing Asante’s perspective as both a health care provider and employer.
