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By Rhonda Morin

In an attempt to spread the burden of funding Oregon’s public-administered health program to a greater number of entities, the Oregon Medical Insurance Pool (OMIP) board has submitted two legislative concepts that would allow the insurer to impose an assessment on third-party administrators while reducing stop-loss carrier fees.

If the measures get the go-ahead by the governor and the Oregon Legislature, the number of insurers, stop-loss carriers and re-insurers that pay into OMIP would increase, thereby distributing costs more evenly across the insurance industry. By dividing the burden, up to 600,000 more lives could be added to the OMIP assessment.

The funds collected would not change, said officials, but rather third-party administrators (TPAs) would be brought into the reporting mix for the first time since OMIP issued its first policy in 1990.

By Rhonda Morin

Congress reacted swiftly to a presidential veto on July 15 by overriding the action by more than the two-thirds necessary...

By Timothy Heider

Two drug companies have agreed to pay Oregon more than $100,000 to settle claims of drug switching and overcharging...

By Kathleen Finn

The death of a 6-year-old farm girl in North Plains, Ore., who didn’t have access to culturally appropriate care spurred local community organizations to band together 33 years ago...

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