PORT ANGELES — U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer paid a visit to his native Port Angeles to discuss health care issues with North Olympic Healthcare Network officials.
Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, said the Affordable Care Act has abated the upward trajectory of health care premiums and fostered primary care relationships that will reduce expensive trips to the emergency room.
“Over time, that should help premiums go down further,” Kilmer said in a Friday meeting with Dr. Michael Maxwell, CEO, and other NOHN officials.
While not a perfect law, the 2010 Affordable Care Act, or ACA, is a better option than the replacement bill that would have resulted in 24 million Americans losing health insurance had it been approved last month, Kilmer said.
The President Donald Trump-backed GOP bill was pulled off the House floor March 24, with Democrats and some Republicans prepared to vote no.
Kilmer, who was elected to represent the 6th Congressional District in 2012, has proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act to help small-business owners provide insurance to employees.
“Part of my push has been: Let’s see if there’s things we could adjust within the ACA so that you’re providing help to small employers, in particular, who want to do the right thing but just have a financial difficulty doing that,” Kilmer said.
“I’d love to see Congress engaging on that. That’s not what we’re talking about right now, unfortunately.”
Efforts were underway Friday to revitalize the GOP health care law. Kilmer predicted that the second version of the replacement bill would be similar to the first.
“It sounds like there’s agreement between the two Republican caucuses, but we’ll see,” Kilmer said.
“It was basically all of the elements of the prior bill. The Congressional Budget Office said it [the prior bill] would cover 20 million fewer people, with increased premiums.”
Much of the discussion in Friday’s meeting focused on the North Olympic Healthcare Network’s federal funding mechanism.
As a federally qualified community health center, NOHN receives guaranteed Medicaid reimbursement by meeting thresholds of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Maxwell explained.
Medicaid typically pays about 30 cents on the dollar, he said.
“It’s that funding mechanism that allows health centers to be positioned actually to do more Medicaid, as long as those guarantees are there,” Maxwell told Kilmer.
A repeal of the Affordable Care Act — or a failure of Congress to pass a spending bill by September — would have a crippling effect on NOHN and other health centers across the state, Maxwell said.
“If there’s not something on the books as of September, our funding goes away 70 percent,” Maxwell said of the federal spending cliff.
“It’s going to have a big impact on our ability to care for the patients we have, and our ability to recruit.”
Since becoming a federally qualified community health center in September 2015, NOHN has added five primary care doctors and 2,524 new patients, Maxwell said.
Access to primary care, Maxwell added, is a “huge deal for the community.”
NOHN also recruited four primary care doctors who will be starting between June and September, Maxwell said.
The ACA made grants available that allowed the privately owned Family Medicine of Port Angeles to become NOHN 18 months ago.
When asked how NOHN has managed to recruit when hospitals in other counties have struggled, Maxwell said it was a combination of the mission of health centers, NOHN’s full-spectrum services and its rural residency training program with Swedish Medical Center.
Dr. Kate Weller, chief medical officer, gave an overview of NOHN’s new Suboxone program.
Suboxone is used to treat patients who are addicted to heroin and other opioid drugs. It does not produce a high, Maxwell said.
NOHN is prescribing Suboxone to about 120 patients, Weller said.
“We would like to be able to expand those services,” she added.
Kilmer has sponsored legislation to fight the opioid epidemic, which is particularly prevalent in Clallam County, according to state Department of Health statistics.
NOHN is participating in all facets of a communitywide opioid response plan that involves preventing addiction, expanding treatment options and preventing opioid overdose deaths, Weller said.
Before leading Kilmer on a tour of the recently remodeled facility, Maxwell touted NOHN’s positive impact on the local economy.
NOHN currently supports 64 living-wage jobs, generates $7.5 million in annual revenue and serves as an anchor to the west downtown business district, Maxwell said.
“Those federal dollars do more than just help take care of patients,” Maxwell said.
“They actually help drive the economy in this town.”
Said Kilmer: “Thanks for making that investment.”
After his one-hour meeting at the health center, Kilmer said he had other stops planned Friday at Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles, Quilcene and the Kitsap County YWCA.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
