The Oregon Health Plan: A Rational Approach to Care for the Underserved

The Oregon Health Plan addresses the needs of 450,000 Oregonians presently without health insurance, among them 120,000 living in poverty who are not now Medicaid-eligible. This is accomplished by expanding eligibility for Medicaid to individuals and families with incomes at 100 percent of the federal poverty level. To help expand access within the limitations of the state budget, certain services, determined to be of limited value or effectiveness, are not covered for payment. This concept of rationing health care reimbursement stands in contrast to existing mechanisms of rationing employed by every state and the nation. The Oregon Health Plan introduces a rational plan for expanding services to the entire population of the state, while acknowledging the limitations of funding resources.