Oregon Eligibility Partnership outlines $952 million budget request, warns of staffing and timeliness pressures

The Oregon Eligibility Partnership (OEP), the consolidated eligibility unit within the Oregon Department of Human Services, told the Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Services on March 27 that it is operating under a governor-recommended budget of about $952 million for the upcoming biennium and faces continuing workload and timeliness pressures.

OEP Director Nate Singer told the committee the program — created by the Legislature in 2023 to centralize eligibility work for medical, food, cash and childcare benefits — supports eligibility determinations for more than one in three Oregonians. "Our commitment is to be available to them wherever they choose to engage us," Singer said.

OEP presented the committee with detailed program metrics and three policy option packages it asked lawmakers to consider. Singer said OEP is responsible for processing roughly 56,000 new applications per month and more than 60,000 monthly redeterminations. In 2024 the agency approved about 460,000 new applications, denied about 200,000, and received about 1.2 million calls to its single customer service number.

Why it matters: The agency’s capacity to process applications quickly and accurately affects access to medical care, nutrition and childcare for hundreds of thousands of Oregon residents. Committee members pressed OEP on federal performance expectations and how state funding and IT investments support meeting those requirements.

Budget and funding mix

Singer said OEP’s budget request in the governor’s recommended budget is about $952 million, roughly 53% federally funded. He told the committee ODHS’s total recommended budget is just over $22 billion and that OEP represents roughly 4% of that total. Singer characterized about 75% of OEP funding as going to service delivery (front-line eligibility staff), 21% to the state’s…