Former Governor John Kitzhaber envisioned folding public employee health benefits into Oregon's Coordinated Care Organizations.
OHSU / Boone Speed Photography
State lawmakers are considering cutting health insurance costs for Oregon’s teachers and government employees, by requiring they use the state’s Coordinated Care Organizations.
Back in 2011, then-Gov. John Kitzhaber was working on the Oregon Health Plan. He envisioned folding public employee health benefits into the CCOs.
The goal was to reduce costs and improve the system.
“I don’t believe that process ever happened in a meaningful way," said Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn.
"The unrealized savings from that, had we started moving that direction, is about a billion dollars a biennium,” she said.
Parrish wants to revisit the idea to reduce the budget shortfall.
A recent report by The Register-Guard found health insurance cost more for Oregon employees, than for public workers in Washington or California.
Hanna Vaandering with the Oregon Education Association doesn't like the idea. She says state workers protected their health benefits during the Great Recession, in exchange for lower salaries.