The Oregon Health Plan — Lessons for the Nation

In 1989, the state of Oregon embarked on a controversial experiment in the financing of health care. The state planned to add many uninsured people to the Medicaid program and to pay for this expansion by reducing the Medicaid benefit package — more people would be covered, but for fewer services. The Oregon plan provides important lessons to a nation striving to expand health care coverage in an era of shrinking budgets.At first, the Oregon plan made repeated headlines and provoked strong criticism. “The Oregon plan will target a new group for discrimination — the seriously ill,” wrote an . . .