New Enrollment, Copayments Under Oregon Health Plan Standard To Be Halted

Beginning July 1, Oregon will halt new enrollment in the Oregon Health Plan Standard benefit package, which provides health care to adults who do not qualify for traditional Medicaid but have incomes at or below the federal poverty level, the Oregonian reports. The policy does not affect residents enrolled in traditional Medicaid, called the Oregon Health Plan Plus package. By ceasing new enrollment in the OHP standard package, the state aims to decrease the number of beneficiaries from 50,700 to fewer than 25,000 by June 30, 2005, according to Cindy Becker, deputy director of the Oregon Department of Human Services. Under the new regulations, current OHP standard beneficiaries who do not make premium payments, which range from $6 to $20 per month, will lose coverage under the program and will not be allowed to reapply. The state also might lower income eligibility limits from 100% of the federal poverty level to 30% or 50% of the federal poverty level. Such a move depends in part upon the state's ability to reduce the number of beneficiaries through attrition and upon the amount of new revenue available to the state through a new tax on managed care organizations and hospitals. The federal government has approved the taxes on managed care plans but has not made a decision on the hospital tax. When the state implemented the OHP standard package in 1994 to provide basic health care to all residents, legislators had said they would focus on reducing services, not beneficiaries, to decrease spending. However, according to the Oregonian, new federal government restrictions "severely restricted Oregon's ability to reduce services," and enrollment has "fallen precipitously" since January 2003, when it had about 100,000 beneficiaries (O'Neill, Oregonian, 6/9).