The Truth is Powerful
Health care costs for Oregonians increased more per year than the rest of the U.S. Spending on health care went up by about 50% between 2013 and 2019, an average of 7% every year. That’s according to a new report from the Oregon Health Authority. Jeremy Vandehey, director of health care policy and analytics for OHA, spoke with Dave Miller on OPB’s “Think Out Loud®” about the reasons for this increase and the impact on Oregonians.
Dave Miller: Welcome back to “Think Out Loud.®”
Jeremy Vandehey: Thanks Dave, Happy to be here.
Miller: Let’s start with the actual increases over this six-year period, because they varied for the different categories of how people get their insurance: Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance. How big were the increases for these different marketplaces?
Vandehey: So we have a pretty complex health care system as most folks know, and people get their insurance and access to health care systems in a variety of different ways. The three big buckets we think about are; Medicaid, which is generally folks who are lower income or disabled; Medicare, which tends to be folks who are older or disabled; and most of the state gets their health insurance through their employers. […]