U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle and U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley heard about how government healthcare cuts touted by President Donald Trump will cost hospitals and clinics during a Eugene visit Wednesday.
Among the people in attendance at the roundtable was Dr. Jim McGovern, Chief Hospital Executive of PeaceHealth.
He said the company has seen the amount of healthcare it gives away grow in recent years, totaling $70 million last year. The not-for-profit business has also been running at a loss.
"70% of our payers are government, 50% are Medicare and 20% Medicaid. We can’t afford cuts to 70% of our patients," said McGovern.
Other health care providers from Planned Parenthood of Southwest Oregon, Orchid Health, McKenzie Manor Memory Care, Community Health Centers of Lane County and Lane County Health and Human Services expressed similar concerns.
“We had a vision for 2030 to open up in four more rural communities, in towns between 2,000 and 40,000 [residents], and that’s uncertain based on our funding model and the funding we get from Medicaid,” said Orion Falvey, Chief Executive Officer of Orchid Health.
“What we’re seeing with this bill, quite frankly I’m appalled that my colleagues in Congress, my Republican colleagues, are lying about, are saying that this isn’t going to impact anything,” said Hoyle.
Oregon’s U.S. Senators aimed their ire at the fact that cuts and increased rules about qualifying for Medicaid will coincide with now-permanent changes to tax rates.
“Conveniently, they’ve decided that they are going to give tax breaks to the billionaires immediately, but if you really want to know what’s going on with the healthcare cuts, you’ve got to wait until after the 2026 election,” said Wyden.
“What this bill does in providing an enormous tax giveaway for billionaires, it rolls out the red carpet for the richest Americans and it rolls out the red tape for the least affluent,” said Merkley.
30% of Oregonians were enrolled in Medicaid last year through the Oregon Health Plan.
