Multnomah County officials are warning that Oregon’s handling of Medicaid long-term care is helping push some of the county’s most vulnerable residents into homelessness. In a December letter, county commissioners say state policies are blocking staff from enrolling certain people with severe and persistent mental illness in programs that provide in-home personal care and case management, services they argue are critical to keeping people stably housed. Instead, commissioners say many end up cycling through jails, hospitals and the state hospital, a pattern they describe as both discriminatory and financially shortsighted.
County letter calls state policy discriminatory
In the December DocumentCloud letter to Gov. Tina Kotek and state agency leaders, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners argues that bureaucratic rules are blocking access to Medicaid long-term care programs. County leaders say the state’s enrollment process treats people differently based on the “type or nature of disability,” language the board believes conflicts with federal guidance. Commissioners urged state officials to change the policy or, at minimum, create a joint…..