Governor Tina Kotek attended a roundtable in Bend at Mosaic Community Health on June 18 to speak with 11 hospital workers, caregivers and people receiving benefits to discuss how proposed federal cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could impact the lives of those needing care in the region and in rural eastern Oregon.
The budget cuts, which are part of President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ would make around $600 billion in cuts to Medicaid, a health care program for lower-income individuals and those with disabilities. The bill could also cut SNAP, a food assistance program for lower-income Americans, with an estimate of $230 billion in cuts over 10 years, according to reporting from ABC News.
“We are here because Republicans in Congress are trying to cut very important programs for Oregonians. The Medicaid program, the SNAP program, is a lifeline for Oregonians. I heard that from folks at this roundtable,” Kotek said on Wednesday. “The reason I wanted to be in Bend was to really focus on what it means for rural Oregonians to access to care they need.”
One in three Oregonians rely on Medicaid and SNAP, Kotek said. The proposed cuts, she said, could halt health insurance coverage for over 200,000 residents.
According to Megan Haase, CEO of Mosaic Community Health, a local health center, more than half of its 34,000 patients rely on Medicaid coverage.
“Without Medicaid, many people will be forced to avoid or delay seeking help for healthcare needs, resulting in declining health and eventual healthcare crisis that leads to hospital stays and poor health outcomes,” Haase said at the event.
When it comes to SNAP, Kotek said the proposed budget cuts would put more of the administrative and food benefit costs on the state.
“Right now, we’re looking at changes being proposed of adding another $850 million back onto the backs of Oregonians every two years to pay for those SNAP changes,” she told the Source. “We don’t have the money here to do that. The federal government needs to stay committed to paying for the benefits and sharing the burden of the administrative costs.”
Other proposed actions include new work requirements, imposing 80-hour per month work requirements on able-bodied Medicaid recipients. Kotek believes this will lead to fewer people getting assistance.
“To implement the work eligibility that we’re hearing from Congress, it’s going to take a while, but it’s going to cost upwards of $100 million dollars between the staff and the programming changes on our eligibility system just to make it happen,” Kotek told the Source.
“What I heard from the providers today when we were talking about it, we know people are just not going to keep their care, because the harder you make it, fewer people stay on. That’s how Congress is planning to save money. It’s not budgetary efficiencies. It’s actually kicking people off the program, by making it hard to stay on.”
Kotek ended the roundtable with a press conference, where she made final remarks following her discussion about the proposed cuts.
“The Medicaid program, the SNAP program, is a lifeline for Oregonians. I heard that from folks at this roundtable. I would like every member of Congress, particularly Republicans in Congress who are pushing budget proposals that would cut Medicaid and SNAP, to sit across the table from the folks I talked with today…. children are going to be hurt, families are going to be hurt, and I think we will lose lives in our state if those cuts go through.”
This article appears in Source Weekly June 19, 2025.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
