SERVING CURRY COUNTY SINCE 1946 www.currypilot.com
FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2022
Brookings, Oregon
Commissioners reject expanded board County
considers tax proposals to support sheriff's office By DAVID RUPKALVIS The Pilot
File photo
County Commissioners John Herzog, Court Boice and Chris Paasch seem reluctant to expand the board to five members. Paasch made the recommendation, but his proposal died when no other commissioner agreed.
By DAVID RUPKALVIS The Pilot
A proposal to expand the Curry County Board of Commissioners from three to five appears to be dead - at least for now. Commissioner Chris Paasch suggested the change, asking his fellow commissioners to ask vot-
ers for their input in November. But a motion Paasch made to put the question on the ballot died for a lack of a second. Paasch said his idea would be to keep the three full-time commissioners the county currently has while adding two part-time commissioners. He said sending the issue to the voters would cost
the county only between $100 and $200. "We always talk about how many counties don't have five commissioners, and we also talk about Curry County leading the way," Paasch said. "This is a very successful form of government and, again, I just say we have three full-time commis-
sioners and every thing stays the same. We have two more part-time commissioners that are paid a very small stipend to have an equal vote on this board. That would allow this board to do so much more work. We would be able to meet two of us together to plan things. I would like to see Please see BOARD Page A6
Healthcare costs rising across Oregon Staff Reports A new report shows average healthcare costs in Oregon totaled more than 23% of family expenditures in 2019. The Oregon Health Authority’s (OHA) Health Care Cost Growth Target Program report showing impacts of rising healthcare costs on Oregon families and individuals found personal spending for healthcare rose by 34% from 2013 to 2019, outpacing national averages. Between out-of-pocket costs and rising premiums, high healthcare costs are jeopardizing the financial stability of people in Oregon, as 10% of people in Oregon reported using up all or most of their savings because of medical bills, according to the OHA report. “This report fleshes out with data a troubling picture of the impacts of rising healthcare costs on Oregon families,” OHA Director of the Health Policy and Analytics Division Jeremy Vandehey said. “While we’ve known for a long while that the rate of cost growth was unsustainable, COVID showed us in stark relief how important access to affordable care was to Oregon families.” According to Vandehey, high costs not only cause poor health outcomes, but they also do real financial harm to people in Oregon.
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Between out-of-pocket costs and rising premiums, high healthcare costs are jeopardizing the financial stability of people in Oregon, according to the OHA report. “The data in this report reinhealthcare cost burdens.” • Using up savings to pay medical bills forces the need in our state for An illustration of the impacts • Incurring significant medical our cost growth target, which of the unsustainable healthcare debt aims to limit annual increases cost that the report quantifies • Declaring bankruptcy in healthcare costs statewide include people: A hearing of the Cost Growth to 3.4% over the next several • Delaying care years,” he said. “And even as the • Unable to pay medical bills in Target Committee focused on real stories of people’s struggles with pandemic destabilized so many the past year. high medical costs, according to things, we still know Oregon • Experiencing difficulty payfamilies cannot sustain further ing medical bills over time Please see HEALTH Page A7
CHN adds teledentistry service in Port Orford By DAVID RUPKALVIS The Pilot
For the first time in close to 20 years, dental service will soon be available in Port Orford. Curry Health Network announced this week that it was bringing teledentistry services to the Curry Family Medical Clinic in Port Orford, allowing residents to visit a dentist for basic care while staying close to home. CHN partnered with the Oregon Health Authority, AllCare Health an Advantage Dental to provide dental services to Port Orford. Curry County was recently identified by the OHA as one of the most underserved regions in the state in terms of access to dental care—a variable that has led to poorer overall dental health than those living in other Oregon areas. With one third of adults not receiving recom-
mended dental check-ups and a provider-to-patient ratio of almost half the state average, there is a critical need for oral health services in our communities. Curry Health Network wants to help change that. Under the new partnership, any patient can receive, at no cost, an initial oral health consultation from an expanded practice dental hygienist. These free visits include the assessment to determine oral health risk level, prevention/stabilization care such as fluoride treatment or sealants, oral hygiene instruction, nutritional counseling, tobacco counseling, toothbrush kits and anticipatory guidance. If patients are covered by Advantage Medicaid and are in need of dental services, the patient is scheduled for a return teledentistry appointment. Teledentistry is an innovative
care model to deliver preventative and early intervention dental care to people with limited access to oral health services or for those facing other obstacles, like dental providers who don’t accept Medicaid. During the teledentistry visit, the hygenist takes X-rays and provides additional assessments that are submitted electronically to an off-site teledentist who then evaluates the information to offer treatment recommendations and any necessary plans for care. Teledentistry can save time and other expenses for patients who may need to travel significant distances for checks ups only to return later if additional care is needed. This efficient care approach saves patients time and resources as they only need to travel when care is needed. Currently, if a patient is not covered by Medicaid but is in
need of dental services, they are referred to local dentists and resources. Mary Ann Wren, director of integration and community programs for Advantage Dental said their team is working on being able to bill for non-Medicaid patients which would allow them to offer teledentistry visits to all patients – no matter the insurer or if the patient is uninsured - by the end of the year. The decision to donate clinic space and support staff for initial oral health assessments and teledentistry services in Port Orford was easy for CHN. “We are fully invested in the health of our communities; any service that we can facilitate to improve health and quality of life of our neighbors is so important,” said Ginny Williams, Curry Please see CHN Page A5
With a budget shortfall of several million dollars facing Curry County, county commissioners are continuing to discuss ways to increase revenue. At its last meeting in April, the board of commissioners debated whether to ask voters to approve a targeted consumption tax or a law enforcement district with the idea of raising funds for the sheriff's office. Commissioner Chris Paasch told commissioners he was not ready to make a motion one way or another, but the board must make a motion which way it wants to go quickly. "It doesn't take a genius to know we have a revenue shortage here," Paasch said. "We can do several things. The one the public doesn't want to hear is we are raising your property taxes, but we have to do something. Clearly, you can see we have a revenue shortage." Paasch said the county's Budget Committee has debated the options as well, but has not chosen one tax over the other. Paasch said he has worked with County Treasurer David Barnes to come up with a consumption tax, or sales tax, targeted primarily at tourists. "It does look very promising that we can do this," Paasch said. "Currently we are not looking at taxing anything other than alcoholic beverages, pot and tobacco, dining away from home and entertainment. All the normal stuff, we're not looking to do that. We're looking to do things that impact mostly tourism. The average person is Curry County is not going to be impacted." The second option is a law enforcement district or levy that would be paid through property taxes. "Brad Alcorn, the chair of the budget committee, said something interesting at the last meeting," Paasch said. "He said, do we want a sheriff's department. If the answer is yes, when you call 911, you want someone to answer, we have to figure out a way to pay for it. We have to have a way to protect our citizens as we're all sworn to do. We want to know when we put our heads to bed at night, our kids will be protected. When we call 911, we want someone to show up. And we want to know when they show up, they have the right equipment and are well trained." Paasch said if Curry County can't figure out a way to fund the county government, it could lose local control. "If you lose your county government because you cannot fund the county, the governor has already said she will move in," Paasch said. All three county commissioners agreed something must be done, but they stopped short of supporting one tax over another. "We don't have any disagreement here," Commissioner Court Boice said. "We need to raise revenue. But to say it's only a revenue shortage problem, we don't know that. Former Commissioner George Rhodes went out on a limb, and he didn't Please see TAX Page A5
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