Nobody wants to talk about sewer systems. Infrastructure spending is about as sexy as a DMV waiting room. But here’s the deal—without working roads, clean water, and functioning hospitals, no amount of government spending on housing and healthcare is going to fix anything.
I just sat down with the talented Bryan Iverson and Reagon Knopp of the Crosstabs Podcast to talk about this, and—surprise, surprise—our coastal communities are getting the short end of the stick. We covered everything from Oregon’s Medicaid disaster to corporate creep in healthcare to why roads are falling apart while Portland eats up all the money.
🎙️ Listen to the full episode here:
Crosstabs Podcast: Housing and Health Care w/ Rep. Cyrus Javadi
Now, if you don’t have time to listen to the whole thing—or if you’d rather read about government dysfunction than listen to it—here are the highlights.
1. Medicaid and Healthcare: It’s a Money Pit
Medicaid makes up over 50% of the Oregon Health Authority’s budget, and much of that money comes from the feds. That means if Washington sneezes, our healthcare system catches pneumonia.
Rural hospitals are barely hanging on—60% of kids and 40% of adults on the North Coast rely on Medicaid.
Oregon just reauthorized a provider tax, and the vote was split.
A dialysis center in Tillamook just shut down because it wasn’t profitable enough. Next up? The hospital in Coos Bay is circling the drain.
2. Corporate Healthcare is Getting Creepy
Doctors used to own their own practices. Now, private equity firms are swooping in, buying up clinics, and sometimes running them like used car dealerships.
Are patients being pushed into unnecessary treatments so clinics can hit revenue targets?
Healthcare economics are complicated, and COVID made it worse
If a corporate-owned hospital or clinic isn’t profitable enough, they may just shut it down, leaving entire towns without care.
A new bill, the Corporate Practice of Medicine Act, is trying to stop this. The goal? Put doctors back in charge so your healthcare decisions aren’t being made by some dude in a suit calculating profit margins.
This shouldn’t even be controversial. Yet here we are.
3. Housing: Let’s Build More, But Where Are We Gonna Poop?
Oregon politicians love talking about housing. The governor wants 36,000 new units per year. But there’s just one problem—our infrastructure is a joke.
Tillamook can’t build another house until we get a new $60M wastewater plant.
The many of the homes getting built on the coast are Airbnbs and second homes for rich city folk.
Oregon has spent billions on homelessness, but the money disappears into nonprofits and bureaucracy instead of actual housing.
We need real solutions, not another round of “just throw money at it.” One idea? Reallocating transient lodging tax (TLT) funds—right now, the lion share of that money goes to tourism promotion instead of fixing the roads and sewers that tourists actually use.
4. ODOT and Roads: The Never-Ending Disaster
Every Oregonian knows our roads are a mess. But here’s the kicker—ODOT isn’t broke. They’re just bad at spending money.
Highway maintenance is always underfunded, but ODOT somehow “miscalculated” $1 billion in revenue.
Coastal roads are crumbling, but all the money keeps going to urban projects.
ODOT employees are working hard, but the system is stretched too thin to keep up with storm damage and routine maintenance.
If we don’t start fixing this now, we’re going to end up with roads that look like the surface of the moon.
The Bottom Line: Stop Funding Bureaucracy, Start Fixing the Basics
Oregon keeps throwing money at problems without fixing the root causes. We can’t solve housing without fixing sewer, water, and roads. We can’t improve healthcare without putting doctors back in charge instead of corporations. And we can’t keep raising taxes and fees while failing to hold state agencies accountable.
I’d love to hear your thoughts—what’s the biggest issue you see in healthcare, housing, or infrastructure right now? Drop a comment or reply to this post.
🎙️ Listen to the full podcast episode here:
Crosstabs Podcast: Housing and Health Care w/ Rep. Cyrus Javadi
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