Hepatitis C Caring Ambassadors Program Dismayed by Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski's Veto of Hepatitis C Legislation

Business Wire, July 20, 2005

OREGON CITY, Ore. -- The Hepatitis C Caring Ambassadors Program (HCCAP) announced that they had received notification on July 19th from the office of Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski that he had vetoed hepatitis C legislation overwhelmingly passed by both the Oregon House and Senate. The legislation, HB 2480, would have prevented the Oregon Department of Human Services from restricting the drugs available to patients with hepatitis C covered by the Oregon Health Plan's fee-for service program. The bill was introduced in February 2005 at the request of the Hepatitis C Caring Ambassadors Program, a national nonprofit hepatitis C education and advocacy organization based in Oregon City, Oregon. Existing statutory limitations are already in place to prevent the Oregon Department of Human Services from restricting patient access to potentially life-saving drugs used to treat other life-threatening diseases including cancer, HIV/AIDS, and mental illnesses. Governor Kulongoski's veto of HB 2480 is particularly remarkable given the overwhelming support for the bill in the Oregon legislature. HB 2480 was approved with 41 ayes to 15 nays in the House, and 27 ayes to 1 nay in the Senate, demonstrating the strong bipartisan support for the bill. Governor Kulongoski reportedly began talk of vetoing HB 2480 in early February 2005, long before the bill reached the floor of the House or the Senate.

Hepatitis C is the most common chronic, blood-borne viral infection in the United States. Hepatitis C is the leading cause of chronic liver disease in the U.S., which now ranks among the top ten killers of adults over the age of 25 years. An estimated 3.9 to 4.5 million Americans have been infected with the hepatitis C virus including at least 64,000 Oregonians. The current methamphetamine crisis is likely to fuel an expanding hepatitis C epidemic in Oregon, a startling backdrop to Governor Kulongoski's veto of HB 2480.

Hepatitis C Caring Ambassadors Program Manager Lorren Sandt stated, "We are deeply distressed by Governor Kulongoski's use of his executive power to exercise his minority opposition to HB 2480. Like cancer and HIV/AIDS, chronic hepatitis C is a life-threatening illness. Medical treatment decisions to optimize care for illnesses that threaten both individual lives and the overall health and safety of the public should be made on a case-by-case basis by treating physicians, not a political bureaucracy. The Governor's veto of HB 2480 has dealt a blow to all Oregonians, not just those currently infected with hepatitis C. All people with hepatitis C should have access to the drugs that are most likely to be effective, regardless of the source of payment. But with the Governor's veto of HB 2480, hepatitis C patients receiving care under the Oregon Health Plan's fee-for-service program are now in a position to have to take whatever drugs the state deems they can have access to."

The Hepatitis C Caring Ambassadors Program will continue efforts to inform state and national policy-makers about the urgent personal and public health threats posed by the hepatitis C epidemic. Hepatitis C Caring Ambassadors Program Medical Director, Dr. Tina M. St. John, stated, "While we must respectfully agree to disagree with Governor Kulongoski on his veto of HB 2480, we will continue to work with the governor, the state legislature, and the Oregon Department of Human Service to ensure optimized care for all Oregonians with chronic hepatitis C, and to fully implement effective hepatitis C control and prevention."

For additional information about the Hepatitis C Caring Ambassadors Program (HCCAP), contact Lorren Sandt at 1-877-737-4372 or lorren@hepcchallenge.org, or visit HCCAP online at www.hepcchallenge.org.