Rep. Blumenauer honored for decades supporting end-of-life care

More honors are being showered upon a longtime Oregon elected during what has been a celebratory final year of public service.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, was awarded for his “exceptional and vital contributions to the end-of-life care movement” during his nearly three decades in Congress. The award was presented Wednesday, July 10, by Compassion & Choices.

“It is an honor to receive this award from a group which for decades has brought the Oregon model of compassionate end-of-life care to the national stage,” Blumenauer said. “No issue has given me greater satisfaction than our work to improve end-of-life care options for all Americans.”

“This award is a symbol of our progress,” he added.

End-of-life care includes physical, emotional, social and spiritual support for patients and families. The goal is controlling pain and symptoms to allow people to be as comfortable as possible, including palliative care, supportive care and hospice care.

Some of Blumenauer’s work in supporting end-of-life care includes:

During the Affordable Care Act he crafted a provision to provide Medicare reimbursement for doctors who discuss end-of-life care treatment preferences with patients.He sponsored bipartisan “Improving Access to Advance Care Planning Act (2022) which authorized expanded Medicare coverage of advance care planning services.In 2021 he authored legislation that allowed Medicare-only beneficiaries enrolled in Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) to choose prescription drug plans to better serve needs.

“Compassion & Choices extends our best wishes to Congressman Earl Blumenauer on his retirement,” said President/CEO Kim Callinan. “We look forward to continuing to work with him, and his successor, to expand and improve patient-driven end-of-life care.”

Blumenauer is a Centennial High graduate whose political career began in 1972 when he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives. He was later elected to the Multnomah County Commission and Portland City Council, before setting his eyes on Washington D.C. He plans to retire at the end of this term.