Oregon Waits To Hear About Health Care Waiver

By Kristian Foden-Vencil

Published October 27, 2016 at 11:12 AM PDT

<p>Oregon Governor Kate Brown and CMS acting director, Andy Slavitt, visit a Coordinated Care Organization in Hood River to learn about how their improving health and holding down costs.</p> — Oregon Governor Kate Brown and CMS acting director, Andy Slavitt, visit a Coordinated Care Organization in Hood River to learn about how their improving health and holding down costs.

Many experts now say a good health care system is only responsible for about 10 percent of a person’s well being.

Their behavior, like whether they smoke or use drugs, accounts for much more, maybe 40 percent.

Another 40 percent depends on socio-economic status, like their income, education and race.

And the last 10 percent is dependent on where they live—so things like air quality are a factor.

Oregon wants to use the next five years to show that spending money on things like homelessness and food is the best way to improve health.

But it needs the feds to agree.

Andy Slavitt is head of the Centers for Medicare Services — and the man chiefly responsible for that decision.“Our team is excited to continue to work with the state and I think we’re all optimistic that we can keep things moving forward, given how committed the state has been to progress,” he said.

A decision on Oregon’s Medicare waiver isn’t expected until after the election.