Last year, thousands of Eugene-area patients were dropped by Oregon Medical Group, which is owned by a subsidiary of insurance company UnitedHealthcare.

A bill sponsored by Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley in the Senate and Rep. Val Hoyle in the House, would seek to end the trend of insurance companies buying, or owning medical clinics.

"When you have a for-profit insurance company that owns a medical clinic, their whole goal is to dump high-cost patients out,” Merkley told KLCC. “They dumped thousands of people out after they purchased Oregon Medical Group in Eugene and that is a terrible way to run a healthcare system."

UnitedHealthcare-owned Optum, employs roughly 10% of the physician workforce . The company also owns the payment system many healthcare providers use – which was a victim

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