Shannon Hughes had heard that big changes were coming to Medicaid. She just didn’t realize they could affect her.
The 45-year-old Gladstone resident gets her health insurance through the Oregon Health Plan. She hadn’t connected the federal Medicaid changes to OHP or realized that people like her could soon have to work, enroll in school or volunteer to keep their coverage.
Hughes said she generally relies on the state to tell her when she needs to act. But she says OHP eligibility rules aren’t always easy to decipher. When she was due for a renewal in June, Hughes said she spent hours on the phone and submitting documents to reverse a coverage denial after the state incorrectly counted her income…