GOP lawmaker may try derailing Oregon’s new health care tax

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Republican Rep. Julie Parrish says she’s launching a statewide effort to derail a critical $670 million health care tax approved last week to fund Medicaid.

Parrish confirmed her plans this week to challenge House Bill 2391, a tax package on health insurers and providers that was approved by the Oregon Legislature a week ago to sustain health coverage for more than 350,000 local Medicaid expansion recipients.

The bill is supposed to kick in within the next three months.

But as soon as Democratic Gov. Kate Brown signs it, Parrish – one of the bill’s most vocal critics, due to its likely cost shifts to patients during a still-unfolding controversy over Medicaid eligibility at the Oregon Health Authority – says she’ll file initial paperwork to challenge the bill.

If she successfully gathers more than 58,000 signatures within that 90-day window, the fate of some Medicaid recipients’ health care could be tossed back into limbo until voters have the final say next year.