Our view: Oregon's health care aim seems off target

The triple aim in health care has been to get more people covered, improve their health and control costs. How is Oregon doing?

About 96% of Oregonians have health insurance. That is an improvement. It was about 85% in 2011 before Oregon implemented the wAffordable Care Act and expanded Medicaid.

So, more people covered? Check.

Discovering a good way to measure the health of Oregonians is more challenging. Oregon was the 22nd healthiest state in 2022, according to the United Health Foundation. It was the eighth healthiest in 2011. Those are relative scores and different ranking systems use different measurements. What measurements should be included? Birth rates? Infant mortality? Life expectancy at birth? Obesity rates? Equity?

The state of Oregon actually does a comprehensive state health assessment every five years. A new report is scheduled for 2024 but has not come out yet. That might be the best way to look at Oregon’s progress.

So, is Oregon healthier? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Then there are costs. And you know what has been happening with health care costs. If your pay has gone up, we can almost guarantee your health care costs have gone up more. Maybe your employer absorbs most of that. Maybe it doesn’t.

Households in the state spent about 21% of their budget on health expenses in 2021, according to the Oregon Health Authority. And as many as 33% reported they are struggling to pay medical bills.

More Oregonians are also paying more of a share of their health care costs in co-pays and deductibles, according to a new report from the authority.

“This is in part due to the increase in the number of people who have a high-deductible health plan,” OHA said.

The possible benefit of increasing co-pays and deductibles is that it may help control some over-utilization of medical services. It’s also likely causing some people to choose to go without care.

So, are costs under control? If the solution is higher co-pays and deductibles, that doesn’t seem what most people would want for cost controls.

Oregon’s triple aim seems off target.