The Oregon Health Authority is touting its success at keeping people enrolled in Medicaid, the free government health insurance program, after program extensions granted during the pandemic ceased.

Over the past two years Oregon and states across the country went through the “Medicaid unwinding,” the process of figuring out who was eligible to remain on the program after government protections enacted to keep people insured during the COVID-19 pandemic ended.

Between April 1, 2023, and Feb. 28, 2025, Oregon had to re-determine eligibility for all Oregonians enrolled in Medicaid coverage.

In the end, more than 80% of Medicaid members kept their full benefits, according to final data from the state. Nearly 3% had their benefits reduced, and 16.9% were found ineligible and ended benefits.

Those numbers place Oregon among the top five states in the nation that maintained high rates of government-funded health coverage during the unwinding.

That was by design. The Oregon Health Authority, with support from the state’s democratic leadership, took a number of steps to minimize the loss of coverage, particularly for people who still qualified based on their income but may have struggled to complete the necessary paperwork.

During the renewal process, Oregon gave Medicaid members more notice than any other state — 90 days to respond and 60 days of advance notice before their benefits were closed out.

North Carolina, Maine, California and Connecticut also had disenrollment rates under 20%, well below the national average.

By contrast, other states prioritized cost savings over efforts to minimize the number of eligible people losing coverage during the reevaluation process.

In Montana, Utah, Idaho, Texas and Oklahoma, more than 50% of people on Medicaid lost their benefits during the unwinding.

Oregon’s approach to the renewals is part of a broader effort by OHA to reduce the churn of people on and off the Medicaid program, and to expand who it covers.

In 2022 Oregon became the first state to keep any children who qualify enrolled through their sixth birthday, without requiring additional checks of their family income. Children over 6 and adults are enrolled for two years in between eligibility checks, twice as long as the typical enrollment period for Medicaid.

That effort has come with a price tag: in the current budget cycle, the Medicaid program is costing Oregon almost $200 million more than it had initially planned for, according to the Oregon Capitol Chronicle.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/04/10/over-80-of-oregonians-kept-full-medicaid-benefits-after-pandemic-protections-expired-state-says/