49,000 people will be cut from the Oregon Health Plan in another sign of difficult economic times and the post-Measure 30 environment. OPB’s Colin Fogarty reports:

SALEM, OR 2004-04-08 (Oregon Considered) - A panel of lawmakers approved a revised state budget today that would cut 49,000 people from the Oregon Health Plan. The move is part of the fall out from the failure of Ballot Measure 30, the tax referendum on the ballot in February. Despite the budget cuts, those clients have one glimmer of hope.

State health managers lined up before the subcommittee of the legislature's Emergency Board. They want the E-Board to approve a reconfigured human services budget.

The good news, health officials said, was that the state has found enough money to preserve the bulk of the Oregon Health Plan. That includes 300,000 Medicaid clients who automatically qualify for health coverage.

The bad news is that the state does not enough money to cover the 49,000 low-income Oregonians who are included in the Oregon Health Plan.

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