From time to time, we use the OK Policy blog to post submissions we receive from Oklahomans who have interesting perspectives on important policy issues for the state. This entry is from Adam Kupetsky, a resident of Tulsa .

Even after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression almost sank us into a second Great Depression, some politicians still believe that “no regulation” is the answer.  Regardless of the industry concerned, politicians with lobbyists’ money in their pockets or ideologies to prove correct find reasons to oppose effective regulation and make it possible for free market excesses to reduce our confidence in the free market.

Opposition to regulation in any form is just as radical and crazy as a socialist’s complete opposition to the market.

The truth is that Americans want the market to be left alone when it works and for the government to step in and regulate when the market doesn’t work.  Health care is one example where the market has not worked completely and requires some government regulation of private insurance companies.  Absent some government regulation of health care, insurance companies have shown that they will not provide coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, will impose lifetime spending caps, will deny coverage to the sick and will keep prices unreasonably high. Read the rest of this entry »

OK Policy has argued repeatedly  that next year’s budget outlook, with shortfalls equal to cuts of 12 percent across all agencies of state government above those already enacted this year, threatens to have catastrophic consequences for the state’s economy, businesses, and families (see our budget page for an op-ed, issue brief and fact sheet, or this blog post). Here we examine the especially grim options for dealing with budget shortfalls faced by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA), the state agency responsible for administering the state Medicaid program that serves nearly 700,000 low-income Oklahomans, primarily low-income children, seniors, pregnant women, and persons with disabilities.

At recent legislative hearings, the agency outlined next year’s budget situation. This year, the agency’s state funding – after budget cuts and including $33 million in additional funds that were authorized as part of the mid-year “supplemental” approved by the Legislature – is $980 million. As a result of increased enrollment and utilization, OHCA estimates that it will need $1.098 billion in state appropriations to maintain the Medicaid program in FY ‘11 at its current levels. If, as is possible, the Legislature were to remove the supplemental from OHCA’s base and cut funding by an additional 10 percent, its appropriation for FY ‘11 would be some $850 million. Thus, OHCA anticipates that it could be facing a shortfall for the coming year of some $250 million in state funds. With the corresponding loss of federal matching funds, the program would face the challenge of enacting total cuts of at least $1 billion. Read the rest of this entry »

Monday we participated, along with other members of the Oklahoma Asset Building Coalition, in the release of the 2009-10 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard, a major  report that looks at wealth, poverty, and the financial security of families in all 50 states.  The Scorecard provides data on how each state is doing on a cluster of measures in five issue areas: financial assets and income; businesses and job; housing and homeownership; health care, and education. The report also evaluates states on their success in adopting policies in each of these areas that strengthen asset development and financial security.  The Scorecard website is a treasure trove of data comparing all 50 states and offering detailed discussion of state policies; if you’re primarily interested in Oklahoma’s outcomes and policy rankings, click here. The Scorecard has also received a lot of press coverage, including articles in the Oklahoman and the Journal Record. Read the rest of this entry »

Kudos to the Oklahoma Legislature and Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland for taking a small but worthwhile step in helping Oklahomans keep their health insurance. SB 553, authored by Sen. Ron Justice (R-Chickasha) in the Senate and sponsored by Rep. Leslie Osborn (R–Tuttle) of the House, expands the state’s “mini-COBRA” health insurance plan for the newly unemployed. The bill allows Oklahomans who have lost their jobs with small businesses to keep their health insurance for four months and receive a federal subsidy to help pay the premium. The bill has passed both houses and  is headed to Governor Brad Henry’s desk.

COBRA is a federal law that allows a person leaving a job to keep health insurance coverage through their former employer for up to 18 months, if the employee pays full monthly premiums plus an administrative charge. For those who can afford it, COBRA offers a way to keep the same insurance coverage while they seek other work or better insurance options. COBRA does not help all workers, however. Among other gaps, it applies only to firms with 20 or more employees.

Oklahoma and most other states created “mini-COBRA” laws to extend COBRA-like rights to employees of smaller firms. However, most mini-COBRAs are more restrictive than the federal one and Oklahoma’s is amongst the most restrictive of all. Employees are entitled to coverage for only one month after they leave a job.
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A new report released by the National Alliance of Mental Illness grades the states on their overall care and treatment of people with mental illness. Sadly, the nation’s overall grade is a D, with not a single state making an A. Oklahoma was one of a very small handful of states that received a B. We are doing better than most in this area. While we should be thankful, we should not be content. Setting the curve is good, but not needing one is better.

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Over the past two years,  Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland has been spearheading an extensive effort known as the State Coverage Initiative (SCI) to develop a plan to extend health insurance coverage to a sizable segment of the 640,000 Oklahomans who are currently uninsured. SCI has recently released a blueprint report setting out its main recommendations.

The SCI report calls on the state to maximize existing opportunities for covering the uninsured through the Insure Oklahoma premium assistance program and to create new publicly-subsidized commercial health plans, which would attempt to control costs either by capping annual benefit limits or by waiving current state mandate requirements. The report proposes funding expanded coverage through a broad-based provider fee that would begin at a modest 0.5 percent of revenues.
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