71st OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2001 Regular Session
 
NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
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 LC 1735
 
                     House Joint Memorial 1
 
Ordered printed by the Speaker pursuant to House Rule 12.00A (5).
  Presession filed (at the request of Joint Interim Committee on
  Health and Human Services)
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
 
  Urges Congress to equalize Medicare reimbursement rates.
 
                         JOINT MEMORIAL
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
  of America, in Congress assembled:
  We, your memorialists, the Seventy-first Legislative Assembly
of the State of Oregon, in legislative session assembled,
respectfully represent as follows:
  Whereas Medicare is a national program with a standardized
benefit package and beneficiaries are supposed to receive the
same benefits; and
  Whereas the Health Care Financing Administration has created a
two-tier health care system for older Americans by using the
adjusted average per capita cost to pay monthly premiums to
Medicare contracts, resulting in a wide disparity in
reimbursement rates between rural and urban areas and among the
states; and
  Whereas in counties and states that have high Medicare
reimbursement rates, Medicare recipients have access to greater
coverage than those living in communities with low Medicare
reimbursement rates; and
  Whereas the lower reimbursement rates have resulted in Medicare
health maintenance organizations withdrawing services from
low-cost reimbursed communities in Oregon and among the states;
and
  Whereas the wide disparity in reimbursement rates creates
significant inequities in the amount of benefits offered by
health plans across the country and presents barriers to health
plans being offered in rural and low-cost reimbursed communities;
now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
  Oregon:
  (1) The Congress of the United States is respectfully urged to
move as quickly as possible to develop federal legislation that
equalizes Medicare reimbursement rates among geographic areas
nationwide for both Fee for Service (Medicare Parts A and B) and
HMO (Medicare Part C) and that increases the Medicare
reimbursement rate in Oregon, especially for rural areas in
Oregon hit hardest by the current reimbursement formula.
  (2) A copy of this memorial shall be sent to each member of the
Oregon Congressional Delegation.
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