Oregon is proposing a policy that may risk the long term health of people with type 2 diabetes, restricting Medicaid-funded strips from Type 2s, not on insulin and with A1C under 8. This jeopardizes the health or PWDs in Oregon and would set a dangerous precedent.
Act now, diaTribe has a petition opposing this proposal. Please sign it now! The vote is in just a few days on December 5.
From diaTribe:
Oregon’s Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC) recommended reducing access to test strips for people with type 2 diabetes on the Medicaid-funded Oregon Health Plan (OHP). A new plan would severely restrict access to strips for type 2 patients unless they are newly diagnosed, take insulin, or meet a few other special requirements. For people not taking insulin – which covers the vast majority, about 70% of all type 2 patients – those with an A1c above 8.0% would be entitled to one test strip per week, while those with an A1c below 8.0% would not be provided with any test strips at all.
This recommendation would severly limit test strips and set a dangerous precedent for other states looking to cut overall health care costs. It’s difficult to understand how the HERC imagines people with an A1c below 8.0% will manage their diabetes without test strips, and a test strip every week is hardly meaningful for patients or providers. Furthermore, any cost reductions will likely be more than canceled out in the long-term due to increased complications, hospital visits, and operations that inevitably folow poor control.
Oregon Contacts
| Governor | John Kitzhaber | @GovKitz | |
| OR Public Health | @ORPublicHealth | ||
| Oregon DHS | @OregonDHS | ||
| Senate by district | |||
| 1 | Jeff Kruse | @SenatorJKruse | Sen.JeffKruse@state.or.us |
| 2 | Herman Baertschiger Jr. | @SenBaertschiger | Sen.HermanBaertschiger@state.or.us |
| 3 | Alan Bates | Sen.AlanBates@state.or.us | |
| 4 | Floyd Prozanski | Sen.FloydProzanski@state.or.us | |
| 5 | Arnie Roblan | Sen.ArnieRoblan@state.or.us | |
| 6 | Lee Beyer | Sen.LeeBeyer@state.or.us | |
| 7 | Chris Edwards | Sen.ChrisEdwards@state.or.us | |
| 8 | Betsy Close | @SenBetsyClose | Sen.BetsyClose@state.or.us |
| 9 | Fred Girod | Sen.FredGirod@state.or.us | |
| 10 | Jackie Winters | @SenatorWinters | Sen.JackieWinters@state.or.us |
| 11 | Peter Courtney | Sen.PeterCourtney@state.or.us | |
| 12 | Brian Boquist | Sen.BrianBoquist@state.or.us | |
| 13 | Larry George | @Sen_George | Sen.LarryGeorge@state.or.us |
| 14 | Mark Hass | Sen.MarkHass@state.or.us | |
| 15 | Bruce Starr | Sen.BruceStarr@state.or.us | |
| 16 | Betsy Johnson | @senbetsyjohnson | Sen.BetsyJohnson@state.or.us |
| 17 | Elizabeth Steiner Hayward | @ESHforOregon | Sen.ElizabethSteinerHayward@state.or.us |
| 18 | Ginny Burdick | Sen.GinnyBurdick@state.or.us | |
| 19 | Richard Devlin | Sen.RichardDevlin@state.or.us | |
| 20 | Alan Olsen | @SenatorOlsen | Sen.AlanOlsen@state.or.us |
| 21 | Diane Rosenbaum | @Sendiane | Sen.DianeRosenbaum@state.or.us |
| 22 | Chip Shields | Sen.ChipShields@state.or.us | |
| 23 | Michael Dembrow | @michaeldembrow | Sen.MichaelDembrow@state.or.us |
| 24 | Rod Monroe | Sen.RodMonroe@state.or.us | |
| 25 | Laurie Monnes Anderson | Sen.LaurieMonnesAnderson@state.or.us | |
| 25 | Chuck Thomsen | Sen.ChuckThomsen@state.or.us | |
| 27 | Tim Knopp | sen.timknopp@state.or.us | |
| 28 | Doug Whitsett | Sen.DougWhitsett@state.or.us | |
| 29 | Bill Hansell | Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us | |
| 30 | Ted Ferrioli | Sen.TedFerrioli@state.or.us |
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