Oregon and Washington State Auditors Uncover $65 Million in Redundant Medicaid Payments

In a groundbreaking auditing collaboration, the Oregon Audits Division has released a report with Washington State Auditor and the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, shining a light on the costly issue of Medicaid concurrent enrollment between states. The audit, as per a statement released by the Oregon Secretary of State, underscores the need to streamline Medicaid costs by eliminating redundant payments made across state lines.

Notably, from 2019 to 2022, Oregon shelled out $65 million in Medicaid benefits for individuals who were simultaneously enjoying benefits in Washington. "Reducing concurrent enrollment does not eliminate anyone’s Medicaid benefits, it simply eliminates a wasteful duplicate payment," Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade told the Oregon Secretary of State's newsroom, evidently highlighting the benefits of the audit's findings to the taxpayers of both states involved.

While many may have crossed the Oregon-Washington border, auditors found that 38 of the tested 100 Medicaid recipients were actually residing in Washington, implying that Oregon's payment was unwarranted and potentially adding up to an unnecessary $29 million burden on its budget. The overarching result of these audits across multiple states shows Oregon has forked over a staggering $445 million for potentially avoidable concurrent Medicaid enrollments. Although, the division asserts further examination is necessary to confirm which payments were indeed improper.

One significant challenge blocking the path to reform, as auditors report, is the lack of federal support—a major hurdle. Currently, states are expected to identify these duplicitous enrollments without the integral data the federal government already possesses. This handicap makes the mission of curbing coinciding enrollments persistently elusive. Even still, the benefits of such collaborations are becoming hard to ignore, with Oregon having saved over $15 million since 2020 thanks to these joint audit efforts, according to a report from the Oregon Secretary of State.

For those seeking the nitty-gritty details of this innovative audit, reports are available for public perusal on the respective websites of the Oregon Secretary of State and Washington State Auditor. The findings represent a stride toward more transparent and efficient government spending, an objective both states continue to work jointly towards achieving.