Federal law added to Oregon recipients, workforce; future private, public costs at issue.

The national health-care overhaul has dramatically reduced the share of Oregonians without insurance coverage, but it also has posed new challenges.

State Insurance Commissioner Laura Cali and Peter Graven, a health economist at Oregon Health & Science University, discussed the wide-ranging effects of the Affordable Care Act at a Salem City Club luncheon Friday.

What we have is a result of a lot of competing interests, Cali says.

While Cali declined to speculate what changes in the 2010 law might occur in the future, you learn things along the way as you implement it and you make adjustments.

Graven says Congress isnt likely to change it anytime soon. The original 2010 law squeezed by with a 60-39 vote in the Senate 60 is the minimum required to avert a filibuster and 219-212 in the House. Both votes took place when Democrats had majorities in both chambers.

Since 2011, Republicans who have controlled the House have taken 56 votes, most recently on Feb. 3, to repeal it. However, President Barack Obama says he will veto any repeal.

Graven says a single-payer system, under which the government pays all health care similar to what Canada does, is also unlikely.

More to the point, Graven says, is what states such as Oregon do to extend coverage through private insurance and state-supported care known as the Oregon Health Plan and how to keep that coverage affordable, such as the 16 coordinated-care organizations that oversee care for almost 1 million low-income recipients under the plan.

Its good to keep an eye on Oregon, he says.

Read the rest here:

Health care challenges still ahead