(José Niño, Headline USA) Oregon expects to allocate significantly more funding for healthcare services to immigrants regardless of their legal status than for state police operations during its current budget cycle, according to a report published by The Daily Caller.
State officials from the Oregon Health Authority project spending $1.5 billion in combined state and federal taxpayer funds on a program providing health benefits to undocumented immigrants from 2025 to 2027. Over the same timeframe, Oregon plans to spend $717 million on the Oregon State Police.
The Oregon Health Authority confirmed the state anticipates allocating $1.2 billion to the program—initially called “Cover All People” and now termed the “Healthier Oregon Program” (HOP). Federal funding will cover 25% of the costs for providing health benefits to illegal immigrants in Oregon.
While Medicaid officially prohibits illegal aliens from receiving benefits, some states such as California have developed creative accounting methods to obtain federal dollars while avoiding federal restrictions, per a report by the Paragon Health Institute. These states impose taxes on Medicaid insurers and providers, secure federal matching dollars for those funds, then reimburse the taxed amounts to those institutions.
Oregon’s spending on health services for illegal immigrants has increased by at least 1100% since the program launched approximately four years ago.
Lawmakers initially introduced the program in 2021 with a $100 million spending cap. The proposal emerged from a racial justice council convened by then-Governor Kate Brown in 2020. In subsequent years, as the national illegal immigrant population surged under President Joe Biden and Oregon expanded eligibility to all age groups, costs ballooned.
By October 2024, OHA faced a $260 million budget shortfall, according to the Lund Report. Approximately 93,000 individuals had enrolled in the state’s Medicaid expansion for immigrants irrespective of their legal status, which is nearly double Oregon’s projection of 55,000 enrollees.
Congressional Democrats have identified dismantling barriers that prevent Medicaid dollars from flowing to illegal aliens as a prerequisite for reopening the government. Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act terminated the disbursement of higher federal Medicaid match dollars for emergency care of illegal aliens—states previously received a 90% rate for illegal aliens versus 50% for American citizens.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has estimated that rolling back these health reforms would cost approximately $192 billion.
Meanwhile in Portland, nightly protests persist outside an ICE facility. Last Wednesday, the Portland City Council heard testimony from small business owners about deteriorating conditions.
“I’ve replaced a total of nine windows, three locks from attempted break-ins, I’ve been spit on, I’ve been punched twice, once resulting in a black eye. I had a man masturbating in my window. I’ve had a gun pulled on me twice — once was last week. I’ve had a knife pulled on me,” stated Steve Cook, owner of Portland business Vinyl Resting Place. “When I’m found dead in my shop, I’m gonna be like ‘I told you so.'”
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
