Lane County Public Health to cut 23 positions amid Medicaid changes

Lane County Public Health will cut 23 positions as federal Medicaid changes, higher prescription costs and the loss of PacificSource’s county contract tighten pressure on a system that serves nearly 30,000 patients.

The reductions came on top of broader county cuts that have been building for more than a year. Lane County Commissioners approved a $1.2 billion budget on June 25, 2025, and the squeeze came from a structural imbalance, with property taxes flattening while service costs kept rising. Eighteen of the positions in the earlier cut package were filled, and the 2025-2026 budget became the county’s largest staff reduction since 2012.

Lane County’s health centers had looked more stable in April 2025, when new clinics were bringing in more patients and helping finances. By September, the county had eliminated 30 vacant positions and cut more management and support staff. It also consolidated patient care from Brookside Clinic and MLK-Primary Care Clinics to Charnelton Community Clinic and West 11th Clinic in Eugene, with Brookside’s last day of service set for November 7, 2025. Lane County figures show West 11th Clinic served more than 2,000 patients and South Lane logged more than 1,200 visits in early 2025.

Oregon is rewriting how coverage works. Oregon Health Authority’s 2025 analysis put the potential loss at as many as 200,000 Oregon Health Plan members and flagged complex eligibility rules and administrative burdens in H.R.1. The agency said most adults ages 19 to 64 may have to renew every six months starting in late 2027, replacing today’s mostly two-year renewal cycle. Oregon covers about 1.4 million people through OHP and Medicaid.

Locally, the insurance shift is already moving patients between plans. PacificSource will not renew its Lane County Medicaid contract, and Oregon Health Authority approved Trillium Community Health Plan to take over care for about 90,000 low-income Lane County residents. Jason Davis, a Lane County Public Health spokesperson, said the effects were arriving now, not years away, and warned that coverage losses would likely show up later in emergency rooms and worse chronic-disease outcomes.

Local health inequities and disparities often exceed state and national levels, and Live Healthy Lane partners are working on community health planning that focuses on access to services, resilience, basic needs and mental health.