QuickTake:

During a visit to Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden celebrated the Trump administration’s decision to reverse course on a $2 billion cut to health care — but urged continued vigilance.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden warned Wednesday, Jan. 21, that the Trump administration will keep looking for ways to make harmful cuts to health care, but urged constituents to keep fighting to make their voices heard.

During a roundtable at the Glenwood offices of Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, Wyden pointed to what he called a recent victory: Last week, the Trump administration said it was cutting nearly $2 billion in federal funding for mental health and drug-addiction treatment services, but the administration reversed itself within a day after a public outcry and opposition, including from Wyden himself.

“The good guys won last Tuesday when $2 billion of mental health services didn’t get cut,” Wyden said at the roundtable, which included representatives from Planned Parenthood, Lane County, PeaceHealth and the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce.

Wyden, a Democrat who is Oregon’s senior U.S. senator, said he’ll continue to fight against Republican-led efforts in Congress to limit or restrict abortion access or defund Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood provides abortions and other services, including testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, emergency contraception, birth control and pregnancy tests.

Amy Handler, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, said her organization is barred from billing Medicaid for reimbursement because of Republican-led congressional action.

After losing 70% of its patient services revenue, Planned Parenthood has worked to preserve access for patients who are otherwise eligible for Medicaid and worked with the state to backfill funding.

“We did not turn a single patient away,” Handler said. 

Handler said Republicans want to permanently defund Planned Parenthood and silence its voice. 

“Not only do they want to shut us down, they want to shut us up,” Handler said. “And we’re not going anywhere.”

Lane County Commissioner Heather Buch said the county is still learning what the impacts will be from President Donald Trump’s tax-and-spending bill — the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — passed by Congress last year. The bill includes a series of health care cuts, some of which won’t go into effect for years.

Meanwhile, the county overall faces a $3 million structural deficit and is “struggling to close the gaps for health care and other needs,” Buch said. 

But Buch stressed good work in health care locally, including the county’s partnership with PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend for a behavioral health campus with a county stabilization center to aid people in mental health and addiction crises. 

Sarah Brewer, plan president and CEO of Trillium Community Health Plan, spoke about how her organization, a Medicaid insurer, is working to become the only coordinated care organization for Lane County residents covered by the Oregon Health Plan.

PacificSource, another coordinated care organization, opted to pull out of Lane County, leaving Trillium as the only insurer that contracts with Oregon to provide health coverage to people on Medicaid. Nearly 96,000 people are scheduled to move Feb. 1 from PacificSource to Trillium.

Brewer said the transition triggered anxiety at first, but has turned into an opportunity that demonstrates the community’s resilience.

Wyden asked about “ghost networks” — or providers listed in a network who no longer provide care for one reason or another.

“What we’re focused on is building a network that can see those patients,” Brewer said. 

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Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.