Introduction
Oregon’s Long-Term Care System - A Responsive, Innovative & Cost-Efficient History in Jeopardy
Oregon is home to a long-term care system that has been lauded as the model for the nation. Advocates and policy makers cooperatively created this system in the 1970s and 80s, which put a groundbreaking focus on providing care where seniors and those with disabilities wanted it: in their homes and communities, significantly reducing the proportion of those in facilities like nursing homes. Even more revolutionary was that this system was codified in state law promising “independence, choice and dignity” and it saved significant taxpayer dollars.
But Oregon’s system has weakened steadily since then. It was first a victim of complacency and a belief that the state could simply rest on its laurels and wait to invest again. And most recently, it’s faced many state obligations and competing interests for extremely limited dollars. Oregon’s long-term care promise is coming unraveled at what many believe is the worst possible time – stormy budget seas and impending cuts that could be draconian, all the while the state is graying quickly.
The current economic crisis demands that we act now and reverse this trend. The combined economic and human impacts from drastic cuts or inaction are simply too great. Oregon’s home- and community-based system is an economic engine that leverages major federal funding, according to a recent ECONorthwest study. And Oregon’s 65+ population is expected to more than double in less than 20 years, comprising nearly one in five Oregonians and signaling impending strain on a system that’s crumbling. More than ever, fulfilling the promise
of providing independence, choice and dignity is the right thing to do. And it remains the fiscally responsible, cost-effective thing to do, especially now.
It was once said that the true moral test of a government and country is how it treats those in the dawn of life (children), those in the twilight of life (the elderly), and those in the shadows of life (the sick, needy and those with disabilities).
Oregon must meet this true test of its government and character. The time is now to restore the state’s visionary and cost-effective long-term care model for its current seniors and people with disabilities as well as future generations.