A CARE PACKAGE.Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard SALEM - Kenneth Peters of Eugene, a 30-year-old man with a transplanted kidney, became perhaps the best example Monday of the sort of person that lawmakers want to help: Someone who could become a casualty in the latest wave of program cuts. Peters was hospitalized at Sacred Heart Medical Center Sacred Heart Medical Center may refer to: In the United States:
The financial rescue of a faltering business or other organization. Government guarantees for loans made to Chrysler Corporation constituted a bailout. for people who most need state medical care. The House Budget Committee unanimously approved the rescue proposal, which is expected to go to the full House for debate and a vote Wednesday. It would keep a handful of human service programs going and would maintain 40 state trooper positions for the next five months - primarily by spending one-time money from reserve accounts. The vote came after Gov. Ted Kulongoski Theodore R. "Ted" Kulongoski (born November 5 1940, in rural Missouri[1]) is an American Democratic politician. Since 2003, he has served as the Governor of Oregon. He was re-elected in 2006. met with legislative leaders to express misgivings about any additional spending that could put Oregon into deeper financial trouble and give the public more reason to mistrust government officials if the state can't sustain the programs in the next budget. The governor's argument apparently failed to offset the emotional pull that many legislators are feeling these days when confronted with stories such as Peters'. A lobbyist for a nurses' union told lawmakers of his plight - even giving information about how to reach Peters at the hospital - during her testimony before the Budget Committee. Peters said his story made its way to the Capitol because of an e-mail that went out to hundreds of human-service providers, recipients and advocates seeking true-life accounts that might prove persuasive in lobbying for more spending money. Someone he knew passed along his story, he said. Peters' situation - he's an organ-transplant patient faced with life-threatening consequences if the state stops helping with costly prescription drugs prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, - was the sort that legislators have fretted about ever since Measure 28's defeat two weeks ago. The three-year income tax increase would have raised $310 million to fill the gap in the current budget. In an interview from his hospital room, Peters said he'd been rushed to Sacred Heart The Sacred Heart is a religious devotion to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of the divine love for humanity This devotion is predominantly used in the Roman Catholic Church and also used in the Anglican Church. by ambulance Saturday after he tried to ration ration a fixed allowance of total feed for an animal for one day. Usually specifies the individual ingredients and their amounts and the amounts of the specific nutriments such as carbohydrate, fiber, individual minerals and vitamins. his medication so it would last longer. It was a strategy he decided on after receiving a letter telling him that his prescription drug coverage under Oregon's Medically Needy Program would end Feb. 1. The program helped him pay for three anti-rejection drugs Anti-Rejection Drugs Definition Anti-rejection drugs are daily medications taken by organ transplant patients to prevent organ rejection. Purpose , a steroid treatment and other medications he needs to allow his body to continue accepting the kidney he received last May. Peters pays $140 a month from his own pocket, but can't afford to cover the costs without help. One prescription, for example, costs $1,100 for a one-month supply, he said. He's unable to continue with his retail work because of medical problems. His disability check wasn't going to stretch far enough to make up the difference, Peters said, and he hadn't yet figured out how to get alternative help to pay for the drugs. "I thought: `What are my options? Do I take the medicine until it runs out completely, or use them more slowly to make them last a little longer,' ' he said. After a few weeks, he said he began to develop symptoms he mistook for the flu. By this past weekend, he was so lethargic and dehydrated de·hy·drate v. de·hy·drat·ed, de·hy·drat·ing, de·hy·drates v.tr. 1. To remove water from; make anhydrous. 2. To preserve by removing water from (vegetables, for example). and had been vomiting vomiting, ejection of food and other matter from the stomach through the mouth, often preceded by nausea. The process is initiated by stimulation of the vomiting center of the brain by nerve impulses from the gastrointestinal tract or other part of the body. so much that his girlfriend called an ambulance. It turned out that rationing rationing, allotment of scarce supplies, usually by governmental decree, to provide equitable distribution. It may be employed also to conserve economic resources and to reinforce price and production controls. his prescription drugs caused his sickness and put him at risk of rejecting his transplanted kidney, he said. "But I was in a bind. I didn't know what to think," Peters said. House Bill 5075, dubbed dub 1 tr.v. dubbed, dub·bing, dubs 1. To tap lightly on the shoulder by way of conferring knighthood. 2. To honor with a new title or description. 3. a "care package" by its Republican legislative authors - is likely to pass the House with support from Democrats as well as Republicans. Minority Leader Deborah Kafoury, D-Portland, said that while her caucus caucus: see convention. members share the governor's concerns about the need for a long-term strategy to maintain essential services, they didn't want to undercut an immediate fix for thousands of frail and needy Oregonians. "I assume the majority of our caucus will support it," Kafoury said. "I mean, these are programs Democrats have always supported." Even if the bill makes it through the House as expected, it could face trouble in the Senate, where Democrats and Republicans each hold 15 seats. Leaders of both parties there said it was unclear if the bill would pass their chamber. In a meeting with top lawmakers and in a letter to them, Kulongoski stopped short of threatening a veto, but warned that he wouldn't go along with the bill unless the Legislature developed a long-term plan. It would have to deal with what could be a new $300 million shortfall, as well as lay out a plan to maintain the targeted services when the next budget goes into effect July 1, he said. The Democratic governor warned that the bailout package - though for a relatively modest amount - would carry forward programs for medically needy, frail, elderly and mentally ill people just until June 30. Beyond that, the cost would balloon to $130 million to sustain the same programs for the new two-year budget. And with indications that Oregon's revenue collections will fall $100 million to $300 million below target in the current budget, it's the wrong time to start buying back some of the cuts triggered by the defeat last month of Measure 28, he said. "The recession has already caused us to dig a very deep budget hole," Kulongoski wrote to legislative leaders. "It seems to me, the last thing we need now is more digging." HOUSE PLAN The House Budget Committee unanimously passed House Bill 5075 on Monday. The full House is scheduled to vote on it Wednesday. The plan would provide: $7.38 million for the 8,000 low-income elderly and disabled people in the Medically Needy Program, primarily to help cover the costs of prescription drugs $6.26 million to maintain long-term care long-term care (LTC), n the provision of medical, social, and personal care services on a recurring or continuing basis to persons with chronic physical or mental disorders. and Oregon Health Plan The Oregon Health Plan is the Oregon state healthcare program for low income residents of Oregon. Eligibility Basic eligibility requires that the applicant be a resident of Oregon, as a citizen or otherwise. coverage for 4,813 elderly and disabled people in certain "survivability sur·viv·a·ble adj. 1. Capable of surviving: survivable organisms in a hostile environment. 2. That can be survived: a survivable, but very serious, illness. levels" $1.2 million to immediately restore cuts to Oregon State Police forensics See computer forensics. programs and 40 patrol positions that would otherwise be restored in July under the governor's budget proposal $660,000 to continue residential care for 122 mentally ill people in three group homes The plan would tap : $9 million from the lottery fund's projected ending balance $3 million from Legislature's biennial biennial, plant requiring two years to complete its life cycle, as distinguished from an annual or a perennial. In the first year a biennial usually produces a rosette of leaves (e.g., the cabbage) and a fleshy root, which acts as a food reserve over the winter. Emergency Fund $2.5 million from Oregon's share of the national tobacco settlement $950,000 from incoming tobacco tax revenue CAPTION(S): Please turn to BUDGET, Page A7 Budget: Gov. Kulongoski argues for a long-term plan Continued from Page A1 Continued from Page A1 Budget: Jumphead goes here Continued from Page A1 |
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