Tribal Council approves second Shasta loan

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals assistant editor/staff writer

Tribal Council held a special meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 15, to approve a second secured loan to the Tribe’s health insurance administrator, Redmond-based Shasta Administrative Services.

The $400,000 loan will be made through the Tribe’s line of credit at TriState Capital Bank and will help Shasta with business operations.  

The first loan to Shasta was approved in November 2022 for $350,000 to help the company address cash flow issues stemming from system upgrades and litigation expenses. In return, Shasta agreed to release the Tribe and its entities from any claims Shasta or its parent company, Lamatsin LLC, have against the Tribal entities arising out of a lawsuit filed by QualiCenters Salem LLC against Shasta and First Choice Health Network.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Oregon, alleges Shasta and First Choice have “regularly failed and refused to fulfill their contractual obligations” in paying QualiCenters Salem network rates for the treatment of a patient who worked at Spirit Mountain Casino. It is seeking approximately $1.5 million for past billing and payments for services it provided for the patient.

Shasta, however, asserts it is the payor of last resort and QualiCenters Salem failed to bill Medicare first before attempting to collect from Shasta.

Shasta employs approximately 60 people and makes about $17 million in annual revenues, according to the website Datanyze.

“(The new loan) is for the same thing that was approved before,” Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy said, adding that there will be an update to the Tribal membership about Shasta.

The other agenda item involved approving a proposed settlement with e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc.

In 2020, the Tribe joined a list of Tribal and nonTribal governmental entities in the United States going after the company, which reportedly controls 75 percent of the e-cigarette market in the country, for deliberately targeting Native American Tribes and American Indian/Alaskan Native youth in promoting its products as a safe alternative to tobacco products. However, the products actually are highly addictive and cause significant health issues.

To view the entire meeting, visit the Tribal government’s website at www.grandronde.org and click on the Government tab and then Videos.