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| Welcome to the Oregon Medical Insurance Pool's (OMIP) Web site |
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The Oregon Medical Insurance Pool (OMIP) provides medical insurance coverage for all Oregonians who are unable to obtain medical insurance because of health conditions. OMIP also provides health benefit portability coverage to Oregonians who have exhausted COBRA benefits and have no other portability options available to them. In addition, OMIP also offers coverage for individuals who have been affected by competition from foreign trade, and are eligible to receive a federal tax credit under Section 35 of the Internal Revenue Code. OMIP has four preferred provider medical plans from which enrollees may choose. The plans offer different co-insurance, deductible, and maximum out-of-pocket amounts.
The 1987 Legislature established the program and it issued its first policy in July 1990. OMIP is a component of the Department of Consumer & Business Services. Since we issued the first policy, OMIP has insured more than 35,000 Oregonians who otherwise would have had no health benefit coverage. A citizen board of directors guides policy for the program. Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon is OMIP's administering insurer and handles eligibility, enrollment, member services, and claims processing.
The premiums that OMIP enrollees pay actually cover only about 60% of the medical and drug claims costs in the program. The commercial insurance companies that conduct business in Oregon pay a special fee to OMIP to cover the remaining 40%. For individuals who enroll because they meet the medical eligibility criteria, the premiums are higher than those charged by the commercial insurance carriers for similar individual benefit coverage. For individuals who use OMIP as their portability coverage option, the premiums are an approximate average of what the commercial carriers charge for their portability products in Oregon.
Individuals who enroll themselves or family members in an OMIP Plan must have the financial resources to pay the premiums. We do not subsidize premiums nor do we reduce them according to an individual's ability to pay. However, people who have not had health insurance coverage for at least six months and who also are eligible for OMIP may also be eligible for a premium subsidy from a different program called the Family Health Insurance Assistance Program or FHIAP. Otherwise, we expect the enrollees to pay the full premiums each month to continue insurance coverage.
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| OMIP staff |
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250 Church St. SE, Suite 200
Salem, Oregon 97301-3921
(503) 373-1692
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