Carly Putnam joined OK Policy in January 2014. She previously worked as an OK Policy intern. A Kansas City native, Carly graduated from the University of Tulsa in December 2013 with a BA in Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies. As a student, she was a participant in the National Education for Women (N.E.W.) Leadership Institute and interned with Planned Parenthood. She is a graduate of the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits Nonprofit Management Certification Program, the Oklahoma Developmental Disabilities Council’s Partners in Policymaking program, and The Mine, a social entrepreneurship fellowship in Tulsa. She previously served as board president for United Campus Ministry at the University of Tulsa. At OK Policy, Carly supervises policy staff and conducts research focusing on health care and the safety net.
By: Carly Putnam
April 2, 2020 // Updated: April 20, 2020
Oklahoma’s Medicaid expansion is long overdue, but focusing attention on a July 1 start date overlooks an important fact: there is nothing preventing Oklahoma from expanding Medicaid now, and Gov. Stitt should act to do so as soon as possible. [More...]
By: Carly Putnam
April 1, 2020 // Updated: April 1, 2020
Gov. Stitt on Wednesday extended his executive order to close non-essential businesses to all 77 counties through April 30. However, that’s not enough. To slow the virus’s spread and give our health systems the resources to respond, Gov. Stitt should issue a statewide stay-at-home order. [More...]
By: Carly Putnam
March 25, 2020 // Updated: March 28, 2020
As Oklahomans are rightly turning their attention to our nation’s urgent health emergency, Gov. Stitt should withdraw his health care proposal, or at the very least, extend the comment period to allow as many Oklahomans to participate. [More...]
By: Carly Putnam
September 26, 2019 // Updated: September 26, 2019
New data from the Census Bureau shows that poverty in Oklahoma is still well above the national average. In 2018, nearly 1 in 6 Oklahomans (15.6 percent) lived below the poverty line, earning less than $25,100 for a family of… Read more [More...]
By: Carly Putnam
September 24, 2019 // Updated: June 26, 2020
It’s been over seven years since states first began expanding Medicaid to cover low-income working-age adults. To date, 37 states (including the District of Columbia) have opted to expand coverage, and not a single state having done so has since… Read more [More...]
By: Carly Putnam
July 19, 2019 // Updated: October 8, 2020
This page is a resource on the Oklahoma Medicaid expansion ballot initiative (SQ 802). It will be updated to reflect the most recent information available. [More...]
By: Carly Putnam
June 6, 2019 // Updated: June 19, 2019
Perhaps the best thing that can be said about this year's legislative session from a health care perspective is that, refreshingly, this was the first in recent years that didn't include a full-scale attack on access to SoonerCare. [More...]
By: Carly Putnam
May 14, 2019 // Updated: May 15, 2019
Although time is running out, legislators could still advance a bill this session – or they may punt to a summer working group, putting the issue on a collision course with a likely ballot initiative. Regardless, this is a complex issue that inevitably raises a lot of question. Some of the most popular ones, and their answers, are below [More...]
By: Carly Putnam
March 20, 2019 // Updated: May 2, 2019
It’s been a few years since coverage expansion has been seriously entertained by state leadership, and both the state and federal landscape has shifted significantly in the meantime. Here’s a refresher of who should be covered. [More...]