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Oregon Health Authority Seeks 55 Percent Funding Increase

File photo of the ''Oregon Pioneer'' sculpture that sits atop the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.
Chris Lehman
/
Northwest News Network
File photo of the ''Oregon Pioneer'' sculpture that sits atop the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.

The Oregon Health Authority has a lot on its plate. It arranges medical care for low income people, operates the state's mental hospitals, and even oversees the medical marijuana programs.

That all comes with a huge price tag: More than $2 billion in state general fund tax dollars in the current budget cycle. And in a funding request for the upcoming two years, the agency wants to increase that to more than $3 billion.

One reason for the eye-catching number: Some federal funding sources for health care programs are set to phase out over the next year. Agency director Lynne Saxton also said the number of Oregonians eligible for assistance with medical coverage is trending higher than projections.

Oregon lawmakers will consider the funding request during the 2017 legislative session.

Copyright 2016 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.