Before John Kitzhaber became Oregon governor for the first time, he practiced emergency medicine as an ER doctor. He brought that knowledge of the health care system to bear in the late 80s and early 90s, with the enacting of the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s Medicaid program. In 2012, he oversaw the expansion of the program and the creation of Coordinated Care Organizations. Today, about 1.4 million Oregonians get their health care from OHP.

Kitzhaber says Oregon’s unique model delivers high quality but efficient care to more Oregonians - and that could be a national model as Congressional Republicans look to make federal spending cuts widely expected to affect Medicaid. The former governor is among those advising Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz, who told “Think Out Loud” Feb. 26 he wants to “make the system still deliver the type of benefits that people need, while at the same time doing it better and in a way that saves money.” Kitzhaber joins us to tell us more about his ideas for bipartisan solutions to prevent people from losing Medicaid coverage.

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