Eastern Oregonian CCO outlines Oregon Health Plan changes
Published 5:00 pm Sunday, October 18, 2026
PENDLETON — Changes coming to the Oregon Health Plan in 2027 will require members to meet new work requirements.
Leaders with the Eastern Oregonian Coordinated Care Organization on Friday, Oct. 16, detailed what these changes could mean for East Oregonians at the organization’s 14th annual summit at Wildhorse Resort & Casino. The changes could affect roughly 200,000 people statewide — those under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion.
New federal rules will require OHP members to verify their work status to retain coverage.
“We’re all hearing about the work requirements coming out of the HR1 bill,” Coordinated Care CEO Sean Jessup said. “Now, some of the good, maybe a little reprieve, but in 2027, people can self-attest to meeting the work requirements.”
After 2027, EOCCO says members likely will have to provide documentation of their working status.
Jessup said most OHP members will meet the new requirements. He encouraged members to update their contact information to ensure they receive necessary renewal paperwork in the mail.
“There’s a lot of detail we don’t know yet,” Jessup said. “We do know a number of things are facing us that are likely to result in some potential losses of enrollment.”
He said federal funding reductions coupled with the state’s budget challenges will have an effect on EOCCO and the state as a whole.
“There’ll be a lot of different resources and EOCCO will have some resources as well to help people navigate through that process,” Jessup said.
EOCCO serves about 80,000 members across 12 rural and frontier counties, and 8,000 are enrolled in OHP.
“We’re going to try to contact everybody, but this population is very variable,” Dr. Chuck Hofmann said. “So they need to contact the CCO. They need to contact their provider.”
Bruce Goldberg, former Oregon Health Authority director and keynote speaker at the summit, said the best way for East Oregonians to prepare for the coming changes is to understand them. Goldberg said the coordinated care organization has been successful in connecting residents with providers.
“It’s a real bright spot of the state’s program,” he said. “And I think East Oregonians need to, one, understand that bright spot, but two, understand how that’s going to really be affected by these changes.”
Find out more if these changes will affect you at the Oregon Health Authority website.