Medicaid work requirements · Oregon

Medicaid work requirements in Oregon: who is subject and who loses coverage (2027)

Data snapshot 2026-06-03 · part of These 5 Million People Are About to Lose Their Medicaid — But They Don't Have To

Oregon expanded Medicaid, so the federal work requirement that takes effect January 1, 2027 applies to its expansion adults. About 644,844 of them (25.3% of an expansion pool of 689,347) will have to prove 80 hours a month of work, school, or service, or an exemption, to keep coverage.

This model's bottom-up estimate is that 192,348 people in Oregon lose coverage by 2034: 173,003 of them still eligible but lost to paperwork and reporting failures, and 19,345 not meeting the requirement. Nationally the same model gives 5,461,400, against CBO's 5,200,000.

Whether those eligible people keep coverage depends on the state's ability to renew them automatically (ex parte) from data it already holds. Oregon scores 74 of 100 on this model's ex parte capability index, a low band; its eligibility system is ONE.

Key figures

Model v2-2026-06-03. "Strict" counts adults whose ACS record shows them subject with no observable exemption; "permissive" allows the broader exemption reading.
MeasureOregon
Expansion stateYes
Subject to the requirement via waiverNo
Expansion pool (adults 19 to 64)689,347
Adults subject, strict definition644,844
Adults subject, permissive definition631,947
Share of expansion pool subject25.3%
Projected coverage loss by 2034192,348
Hardship exception statusAdopting
Early implementerNo
Ex parte capability score (0 to 100)74 (low)

Who is subject in Oregon

Of the 644,844 subject adults, 39% already work 80 or more hours a month and 51% are not working. 31% have a child under 14 at home. Among those not working, 51% report a disability and 15% are caregivers.

ACS PUMS 5-year 2020 to 2024, subject adults only.
CharacteristicShare of subject adults
Age 19-2414%
Age 25-3424%
Age 35-4421%
Age 45-5418%
Age 55-6424%
Not working51%
1 to 19 hours a month1%
20 to 79 hours a month9%
80 or more hours a month (meets the bar)39%
Not working: Disabled51%
Not working: Caregiver15%
Not working: Postpartum0%
Not working: Student3%
Not working: Other31%

Why eligible people lose coverage

Of the 192,348 projected to lose coverage in Oregon, 173,003 meet the requirement or qualify for an exemption but fail to document it. 72,496 of those are working people who cannot prove their hours through data the state can see, and 100,506 qualify for an exemption the state does not detect automatically.

Bottom-up model v8.0-2026-05-30; documentation-failure buckets compound over the 14 six-month renewal cycles through 2034.
GroupProjected to lose coverage
Multiple part-time jobs (aggregation failure)23,588
Self-employed (other)16,811
Variable shifts / on-call work13,948
Full-time students not auto-verified5,074
Volunteering / job training3,924
Seasonal: agriculture, hospitality, food service3,830
Cash-paid construction & trades3,528
Gig / courier (DoorDash, Uber, Lyft, Instacart)1,794
Medically frail without auto-match43,237
Caregivers of a disabled adult27,850
American Indian / Alaska Native (tribal exemption)10,433
Parent caregivers of children ≤13 without auto-match7,220
SUD treatment not flagged in claims data6,113
Kinship caregivers (non-parent) of children ≤132,384
Other categorical exemptions (foster, AYA cancer, SNAP/TANF)1,998
Recent incarceration (data-match gap)992
Pregnancy / postpartum data lag280

Can the state renew people automatically?

The ex parte capability index blends the state's observed automatic-renewal rate (79% in CMS eligibility-processing data), the wage, disability, and other data sources it can query, and its history of churn. Oregon's composite score is 74 (low band). A low score means more eligible people will be dropped for paperwork unless the state changes its process before January 1, 2027.

ComponentScore
Composite74
Observed ex parte79
Core capability93
Data sources76
Historical churn50

How subjects overlap across exemption categories

Each subject adult sits in exactly one cell. Categories: Working ≥ qualifying hours / income; Parent caregiver of child ≤13; Medically frail; Full-time student.
CombinationAdultsShare
None of the four211,59332.8%
Working ≥ qualifying hours / income123,33719.1%
Medically frail102,49715.9%
Working ≥ qualifying hours / income + Parent caregiver of child ≤1384,38413.1%
Parent caregiver of child ≤1343,8736.8%
Full-time student24,5733.8%
Working ≥ qualifying hours / income + Full-time student20,8293.2%
Working ≥ qualifying hours / income + Medically frail12,3921.9%

Counties in Oregon

Subject adults concentrate: Multnomah County (102,494), Washington County (83,886), and Clackamas County (65,182) account for 39% of the state's subject population.

All 36 counties in Oregon with subject adults, sorted by count. County figures are model allocations of the state estimate by ACS tract characteristics.
CountyAdults subjectSubject rateProjected lossPoverty rateWorking-age population
Multnomah County102,49419.2%30,57312.0%534,131
Washington County83,88622.2%25,0228.0%378,024
Clackamas County65,18226.4%19,4438.0%247,108
Lane County64,78628.2%19,32516.0%229,966
Marion County52,21425.6%15,57513.0%203,852
Jackson County35,17028.7%10,49113.0%122,726
Deschutes County31,71926.1%9,4619.0%121,582
Linn County20,06926.7%5,98612.0%75,101
Benton County19,62032.3%5,85219.0%60,754
Douglas County18,93231.6%5,64715.0%59,926
Yamhill County16,88426.5%5,03611.0%63,704
Polk County14,46228.0%4,31412.0%51,726
Josephine County14,33930.9%4,27716.0%46,418
Umatilla County12,00026.0%3,57912.0%46,230
Klamath County11,43429.8%3,41118.0%38,436
Coos County11,19332.4%3,33916.0%34,572
Lincoln County9,06634.4%2,70415.0%26,376
Columbia County8,64427.6%2,5789.0%31,332
Clatsop County6,74028.9%2,01110.0%23,286
Malheur County4,93427.4%1,47219.0%17,984
Tillamook County4,87133.3%1,45312.0%14,635
Crook County4,50931.4%1,3458.0%14,344
Union County4,46530.6%1,33215.0%14,598
Curry County4,26637.4%1,27312.0%11,415
Wasco County4,12427.6%1,23012.0%14,952
Jefferson County4,03828.4%1,20413.0%14,230
Hood River County3,68426.4%1,0997.0%13,938
Baker County2,78032.0%82914.0%8,695
Morrow County1,92528.6%57417.0%6,732
Lake County1,43930.8%42920.0%4,668
Wallowa County1,33235.1%3979.0%3,788
Harney County1,33032.7%39712.0%4,068
Grant County1,30036.2%38816.0%3,594
Gilliam County41543.9%12413.0%946
Sherman County32229.7%9616.0%1,083
Wheeler County27738.6%8310.0%716

State brief and methodology

Estimates, not counts. The model rakes to CBO's national subject total and allocates by ACS microdata; state agencies hold the administrative data that would replace these figures.

Sources

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