Like most people who watch public budgets, we tend to focus on what is being spent, at the expense of what is being bought. Our upcoming Online Guide to Oklahoma Budget and Taxes looks at state and local expenditures more broadly than the traditional view. For each of six functional areas, the Guide reminds us why we have asked government to take some responsibility and what we hope will result from this collective effort. Then we offer some measures we can use to check progress.

Here are some excerpts from our section on Health and Social Services:

Human, health and social services provide the safety net that is essential to our society. Most Oklahomans agree that government should insure that vulnerable individuals and families can meet their basic needs. It also should promote healthy lifestyles that reduce public and private costs.

Our measures of success in this area suggest we have work to do.

• 15.9 percent of Oklahomans are poor, according to the federal definition, compared to 11 percent nationwide.
• Oklahoma ranked 43rd in overall health in 2007, according to the United Health Foundation.
• 18.7 percent of Oklahomans did not have health insurance in 2006, making Oklahoma 5th highest in uninsured population.

Read the rest of this entry »