Tina Kotek on Health Care

	Tina Kotek on Health Care

Eliminate the backlog at Oregon's health licensing boards

Now to Oregon's mental health and addiction treatment system. Last year, I identified a target of adding 465 new treatment beds by the end of 2026. There's now a public online dashboard so we can track our progress with the investments already in the pipeline. To strengthen the workforce needed to help more people, I have focused on eliminating the backlog at Oregon's health licensing boards so qualified counselors and social workers can get to work.

Ensuring that students have adequate access to behavioral health services in and out of school settings is critical to supporting children and their families. That includes specific supports for mental health and substance abuse, including targeted residential and community-based treatment capacity, and suicide prevention programming. When a young person develops an addiction, we need residential facilities that can care for them and help them manage the factors that led them to substance use.

Source: 2025 State of the State Address to the Oregon legislature , Jan 13, 2025

We will move the needle on more recovery services

Q: Behavioral health is a top priority for you. Yet Oregon regularly ranks among the bottom states.

A: We now have the marijuana dollars flowing out into communities from Measure 110 [which allocates cannabis tax revenue to addiction treatment services]. We will move the needle on more recovery services. In terms of how we got here, it was [lack of] resources. Behavioral health services are always kind of the stepchild of the health care system. Q: Why are Oregon's outcomes for K-12 students so poor?

A: Our numbers are improving. Prior to the pandemic, graduation rates were on the rise. The key is increased accountability and transparency in how the new Student Success Act dollars are being spent. We were very specific. We want to make sure that the social, emotional well-being of students is better addressed through counselors and nurses and other folks who could be in the schools to help students be successful.

Source: Willamette Week on 2022 Oregon Gubernatorial race , Oct 20, 2021

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