The State’s Joint Ways and Means Committee Tuesday voted to preserve funding for the Oregon State Hospital in Junction City. The full House and Senate are expected to vote on the deal later this week (likely Thursday).
The Oregon Health Authority Budget would preserve the current service level at the hospital. State Representative Julie Fahey says the funding comes from a $550 million hospital provider tax, which she says was heavily negotiated with the hospital industry. Fahey is hopeful the 100-bed facility in Junction City will stay open, serving the state’s mentally ill.
Fahey: “The hospital plays such an important role in Oregon’s mental health care system and regionally it definitely plays an important role in our public safety system here in Lane County as well.”
Fahey says the hospital provider tax, which would fund the state hospital, includes Medicaid coverage for 375-thousand Oregonians. Governor Kate Brown’s proposed budget had eliminated funding for the Oregon State Hospital which costs about $40 million a year.
