Oregon
Oregon first in nation to use Medicaid dollars for air conditioners, power banks to protect against climate change – KTVZ
By Samantha Young for KFF Health News in collaboration with Eric Tegethoff, Oregon News Service
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Oregon is shipping air conditioners, air purifiers and power banks to some of its most vulnerable residents, a first-in-the-nation experiment to use Medicaid money to prevent the potentially deadly health effects of extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and other climate-related disasters.
The equipment, which started going out in March, expands a Biden administration strategy to move Medicaid beyond traditional medical care and into the realm of social services.
At least 20 states, including California, Massachusetts and Washington, already direct billions of Medicaid dollars into programs such as helping homeless people get housing and preparing healthy meals for people with diabetes, according to KFF. Oregon is the first to use Medicaid money explicitly for climate-related costs, part of its five-year, $1.1 billion effort to address social needs, which also includes housing and nutrition benefits.
State and federal health officials hope to show that taxpayer money and lives can be saved when investments are made before disaster strikes.
“Climate change is a health care issue,” so helping Oregon’s poorest and sickest residents prepare for potentially dangerous heat, drought, and other extreme weather makes sense, said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on a visit to Sacramento, California, in early April.
Becerra said the Biden administration wants states to experiment with how best to improve patient health, whether by keeping someone housed instead of homeless, or reducing their exposure to heat with an air conditioner.
But Medicaid’s expansion into social services may duplicate existing housing and nutrition programs offered by other federal agencies, while some needy Americans can’t get essential medical care, said Gary Alexander, director of the Medicaid and Health Safety Net Reform Initiative at the Paragon Health Institute.
“There are 600,000 or 700,000 intellectually disabled people in the United States waiting for Medicaid services. They’re on a waitlist,” said Alexander, who oversaw state health agencies in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. “Meanwhile Medicaid has money for housing and food and air conditioners for recipients. Seems to me that we should serve the intellectually disabled first before we get into all of these new areas.”
Scientists and public health officials say climate change poses a growing health risk. More frequent and intense floods, droughts, wildfires, extreme temperatures, and storms cause more deaths, cardiovascular disease from poor air quality, and other problems, according to the federal government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment.
The mounting health effects disproportionately hit low-income Americans and people of color, who are often covered by Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for low-income people.
Most of the 102 Oregonians who died during the deadly heat dome that settled over the Pacific Northwest in 2021 “were elderly, isolated and living with low incomes,” according to a report by the Oregon Health Authority, which administers the state’s Medicaid program, with about 1.4 million enrollees.
The OHA’s analysis of urgent care and emergency room use from May through September of 2021 and 2022 found that 60% of heat-related illness visits were from residents of areas with a median household income below $50,000.
“In the last 10-plus years, the amount of fires and smoke events and excessive heat events that we’ve had has shown the disproportionate impact of those events on those with lower incomes,” said Dave Baden, the OHA’s deputy director for programs and policy.
And, because dangerously high temperatures aren’t common in Oregon, many residents don’t have air conditioning in their homes.
Traditionally, states hit by natural disasters and public health emergencies have asked the federal government for permission to spend Medicaid dollars on back-up power, air filters, and other equipment to help victims recover. But those requests came after the fact, following federal emergency declarations.
Oregon wants to be proactive and pay for equipment that will help an estimated 200,000 residents manage their health at home before extreme weather or climate-related disaster hits, Baden said. In addition to air conditioning units, the program will pay for mini fridges to keep medications cold, portable power supplies to run ventilators and other medical devices during outages, space heaters for winter, and air filters to improve air quality during wildfire season.
In March, the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s Medicaid program, began asking health insurers to find patients who might need help coping with extreme weather. Recipients must meet federal guidelines that categorize them as “facing certain life transitions,” a stringent set of requirements that disqualify most enrollees.
For example, a person with an underlying medical condition that could worsen during a heat wave, and who is also at risk for homelessness or has been released from prison in the past year, could receive an air conditioner. But someone with stable housing might not qualify.
“You could be in a housing complex, and your neighbor qualified for an air conditioner and you didn’t,” Baden said.
At the offices of insurer AllCare Health in Grants Pass, Oregon, air conditioners, air filters, and mini fridges were piled in three rooms in mid-April, ready to be handed over to Medicaid patients. The health plan provided equipment to 19 households in March. The idea is to get the supplies into people’s homes before the summer fire season engulfs the valley in smoke.
Health plans don’t want to find themselves “fighting the masses” at Home Depot when the skies are already smoky or the heat is unbearable, said Josh Balloch, AllCare’s vice president of health policy.
“We’re competing against everybody else, and you can’t find a fan on a hot day,” he said.
Oregon and some other states have already used Medicaid money to buy air conditioners, air purifiers, and other goods for enrollees, but not under the category of climate change. For example, California offers air purifiers to help asthma patients and New York just won federal approval to provide air conditioners to asthma patients.
Baden said Oregon health officials will evaluate whether sending air conditioners and other equipment to patients saves money by looking at their claim records in the coming years.
If Oregon can help enrollees avoid a costly trip to the doctor or the ER after extreme weather, other state Medicaid programs may ask the federal government if they can adopt the benefit. Many states haven’t yet used Medicaid money for climate change because it affects people and regions differently, said Paul Shattuck, a senior fellow at Mathematica, a research organization that has surveyed state Medicaid directors on the issue.
“The health risks of climate change are everywhere, but the nature of risk exposure is completely different in every state,” Shattuck said. “It’s been challenging for Medicaid to get momentum because each state is left to their own devices to figure out what to do.”
A California state lawmaker last year introduced legislation that would have required Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, to add a climate benefit under its existing social services expansion. The program would have been similar to Oregon’s, but AB 586, by Assembly member Lisa Calderon, died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which questioned in a staff analysis whether “climate change remediation supports can be defined as cost-effective.”
The cost savings are clear to Kaiser Permanente. After the 2021 heat wave, it sent air conditioners to 81 patients in Oregon and southwest Washington whose health conditions might get worse in extreme heat, said Catherine Potter, community health consultant at the health system. The following year, Kaiser Permanente estimated it had prevented $42,000 in heat-related ER visits and $400,000 in hospital admissions, she said.
“We didn’t used to have extreme heat like this, and we do now,” said Potter, who has lived in the temperate Portland area for 30 years. “If we can prevent these adverse impacts, we should be preventing them especially for people that are going to be most affected.”
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Crude oil prices surged after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and stalled tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing gas prices sharply higher across the country, though Oregon and Washington are seeing smaller increases than many other states.
The national average price for regular gasoline jumped 43 cents over the past week to $3.54 a gallon.
Oregon’s average rose 31 cents to $4.26 a gallon, the 42nd-largest week-over-week increase among states.
Washington also increased 31 cents, ranking 44th-largest.
READ ALSO | Oil prices spike amid Iran war; Oregon gas remains above national average
The current national average is at its highest price since July 2024. Oregon’s average is at its highest since Sept. 2025.
“When crude oil prices shoot up, pump prices follow suit because crude oil is the basic ingredient in gasoline and diesel. It’s impossible to predict how high prices might go, but expect elevated oil and gas prices as long as the conflict in Iran continues and tankers are stalled in the Strait of Hormuz,” said Marie Dodds, public affairs director for AAA Oregon/Idaho.
AAA notes that, in general, every $1 increase in the price of crude oil leads to a 2.4- to 2.5-cent increase in the price of gasoline.
Crude oil typically accounts for about 47% of the cost of a gallon of gasoline, with refining at 16%, distribution and marketing at 20%, and taxes at 17%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
About 20% of the world’s oil and refined products flow through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passageway of the Persian Gulf bordered by Iran.
Tankers traveling through the strait carry oil from major producers including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, Iraq and Iran. Any disruption can affect global oil supplies. While the U.S. does not rely on Iranian oil, China and India do.
Seasonal factors are also adding upward pressure. Gas prices typically rise starting in mid-to-late winter and early spring as refineries undergo maintenance ahead of the switch to summer-blend fuel, which is more expensive to produce and less likely to evaporate in warmer temperatures.
National gas price comparison/AAA chart
Most areas have a May 1 compliance date for refiners and terminals, while most gas stations have a June 1 deadline to switch to selling summer-blend. Some refineries begin maintenance and the switchover in February.
In Oregon, the average price for regular gas began 2026 at $3.42 a gallon. The highest price of the year so far is today’s $4.26, and the lowest was $3.33 on Jan. 20. Nationally, the average began 2026 at $2.83 a gallon. The highest price of the year so far is today’s $3.54, and the lowest was $2.795 on Jan. 11.
AAA reported that U.S. gasoline demand decreased from 8.73 million barrels per day to 8.29 million for the week ending Feb. 27, compared with 8.88 million a year ago.
Total domestic gasoline supply decreased from 254.8 million barrels to 253.1 million. Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 9.3 million barrels per day compared with 9.2 million barrels per day the previous week.
Crude oil prices have been volatile. West Texas Intermediate surged to near four-year highs around $95 per barrel this week but fell to the $80s today as President Trump signaled the conflict with Iran may end soon.
On the West Coast, all seven states remain in the top 10 for the most expensive pump prices nationally.
California has the highest average for the fifth week in a row at $5.29 a gallon and is the only state at or above $5.
Washington is second at $4.69, Hawaii third at $4.59, Nevada fourth at $4.30 and Oregon fifth at $4.26. Arizona averages $3.97 and Alaska $3.95.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia saw week-over-week increases. California had the largest jump at 62 cents, while Hawaii had the smallest at 19 cents. AAA said Oregon and Washington prices also rose last month after an outage of the Olympic pipeline.
The cheapest gas in the nation is in Kansas at $2.96 a gallon and Oklahoma at $3.01. Kansas is the only state with an average in the $2 range this week. The gap between the most expensive and least expensive states is $2.33 this week, up from $2.05 a week ago.
Compared with a month ago, prices are higher everywhere: the national average is up 62 cents and Oregon’s average is up 68 cents.
Compared with a year ago, the national average is up 45 cents and Oregon’s average is up 53 cents.
Diesel prices also spiked. The national average for diesel rose 89 cents over the week to $4.78 a gallon, while Oregon’s average jumped 72 cents to $5.02.
A year ago, the national average for diesel was $3.63 and Oregon’s average was $3.86.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Oregon on Monday restricted federal officers from using tear gas at protests at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Oregon on behalf of protesters and freelance journalists.
U.S. District Judge Michael Simon issued the preliminary injunction after a three-day hearing in which the plaintiffs — including a demonstrator known for wearing a chicken costume, a married couple in their 80s and two freelance journalists — testified about having chemical or projectile munitions used against them.
The lawsuit, whose defendants include the Department of Homeland Security, argues that federal officers’ use of such munitions is a retaliation against protesters that chills their First Amendment rights.
“Plaintiffs provided numerous videos, which were received in evidence and unambiguously show DHS officers spraying OC Spray directly into the faces of peaceful and nonviolent protesters engaged in, at most, passive resistance and discharging tear gas and firing pepper-ball munitions into crowds of peaceful and nonviolent protestors,” Simon wrote, using the term OC Spray to refer to pepper spray.
“Defendants’ conduct — physically harming protestors and journalists without prior dispersal warnings — is objectively chilling.”
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In previous statements, it said federal officers followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary.
Simon had previously issued a temporary restraining order similarly limiting federal agents from using chemical munitions during protests at the ICE building. His preliminary injunction is the second in recent days restricting agents’ tear gas use at the facility, following that of a federal judge overseeing a separate case brought by the residents of an adjacent affordable housing complex.
Federal officers’ aggressive crowd-control tactics are causing concern as demonstrators in cities across the country have protested the immigration enforcement surge spearheaded by President Donald Trump’s administration.
In his Monday order, Simon limited federal agents from using chemical or projectile munitions such as pepper balls and tear gas unless someone poses an imminent threat of physical harm. He also ordered agents not to fire munitions at the head, neck or torso “unless the officer is legally justified in using deadly force against that person.”
Additionally, officers cannot use pepper spray against a group in an indiscriminate way that would affect bystanders; they must only target people who are engaging in violent unlawful conduct or actively resisting arrest, or use it “as reasonably necessary in a defensive capacity,” Simon wrote. He specified that trespassing, refusing to move and refusing to obey an order to disperse are acts of passive, not active, resistance.
Simon also granted provisional class certification, which means his order covers a broader group of all those who have peacefully protested or reported on demonstrations at the ICE building in recent months.
The preliminary injunction will remain in effect while the lawsuit proceeds.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Oil prices continue to soar Monday as the war in Iran shows no signs of slowing down. Oregon’s gas prices are above the national average.
Production and shipping in the Middle East have been jeopardized by the conflict, pummeling financial markets.
The Associated Press reported that the price for a barrel of Brent crude surged to $119 on Monday. That’s the highest level it’s been since the summer after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Brent crude is the international standard.
RELATED| High oil prices won’t limit Trump’s actions in Iran war: Hegseth
The prices fell to just under $100 later Monday, but barrels are still 36% more expensive than they were before Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28.
Today’s AAA national average is $3.478, whereas Oregon’s current average across the state is $4.205.
SEE ALSO | New video shows US Tomahawk hit Iranian Naval Base near school
The average in Oregon just a year ago was 3.730, demonstrating a 12% increase since then.
Still, Washington State’s current average remains higher than Oregon’s, at $4.630.
Malheur County in Oregon currently has the cheapest gas price at $3.499, while Josephine has the more expensive at $4.447.
AAA suggests maintaining cars to the manufacturer’s recommendations can help save fuel. The agency also recommends slowing down and driving the speed limit, avoiding “jackrabbit” starts and hard accelerations and avoiding extended idling to warm up the engine, in winter and even prolonged idling in general.
Research by AAA has shown that premium fuel provides no added benefit unless it is recommended or required by the car’s manufacturer.
Vice President and Global Head of crude oil research at at S&P Global Energy Jim Burkhard said in an analysis on Monday that, at first, the crisis was a transportation issue, “which could conceivably be resolved quickly.”
However, he explained that production and storage concerns are increasingly piling up and restoration “will be a massive technical exercise that could last weeks or more.”
Energy experts’ opinions are clashing, as some warn the war could contribute to even higher oil prices in the near future. In particular, if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed for only a few weeks, oil and gas strategists at Macquarie Research said the price of crude could push to a $150 per barrel or higher. Such prices would top previous peaks of nearly $147, which were reached just before the 2008 financial crisis.
Others, however, don’t expect the disruptions to last much longer. Oxford Economics researchers predict prices will soon fall to an average of $80 a barrel for the quarter, but noted today that the “risk of a more prolonged crisis has clearly increased.”
Iran exports roughly 1.6 million barrels of oil a day, mostly to China, which has called for an immediate end to the fighting.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Detroit Lions Sign QB Teddy Bridgewater To Backup Jared Goff in 2026
Where the wild things dine: Inside Wolfsbane, San Francisco’s most exciting new restaurant
Maxx Crosby-Ravens Trade Dead, Opening Perfect Cowboys Opportunity
Miami Dolphins Fans Sound Off On The Signing Of QB Malik Willis
Boston Police Blotter: Southie pub brawl leads to alleged stabbing
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Map: 2.3-Magnitude Earthquake Reported North of New York City
Trump stirs GOP primary drama with visit to Massie’s Kentucky home turf
Israeli air strike targets building in south Lebanon
Ed Martin, outspoken Justice Department lawyer, is formally accused of ethical violations | CNN Politics
Trump reveals top issues GOP should focus on to secure midterms victory: ‘I’ve never been more confident’
-
Wisconsin1 week agoSetting sail on iceboats across a frozen lake in Wisconsin
-
Massachusetts1 week agoMassachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
-
Maryland1 week agoAM showers Sunday in Maryland
-
Pennsylvania5 days agoPa. man found guilty of raping teen girl who he took to Mexico
-
Florida1 week agoFlorida man rescued after being stuck in shoulder-deep mud for days
-
Detroit, MI5 days agoU.S. Postal Service could run out of money within a year
-
Miami, FL6 days agoCity of Miami celebrates reopening of Flagler Street as part of beautification project
-
Sports6 days agoKeith Olbermann under fire for calling Lou Holtz a ‘scumbag’ after legendary coach’s death