Emma Morris joined Oklahoma Policy Institute as the Health Care and Fiscal Policy Analyst in April 2021, and she previously worked as an OK Policy intern and as the Health Care Policy Fellow. She has worked as a case manager with justice-involved individuals and volunteered as a mentor for youth in her community. Emma holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Women’s and Gender Studies and Public and Nonprofit Administration from the University of Oklahoma, and is currently working on a Master of Public Administration degree from OU-Tulsa. She is an alumna of OK Policy’s 2019 Summer Policy Institute and The Mine, a social entrepreneurship fellowship.
By: Emma Morris
February 27, 2023 // Updated: March 2, 2023
[See this announcement in Spanish]
[Informational Handout – English, PDF] | [Informational Handout – Spanish, PDF]
– – –
Rules are changing for SoonerCare, which provides health care insurance for many Oklahoma residents and their families.
Starting April 1, 2023,… Read more [More...]
By: Emma Morris
February 6, 2023 // Updated: February 6, 2023
As Oklahoma’s 2023 legislative session begins, the perennial push for tax cuts that would shrink state revenue will likely return. In 2022, leaders of the Oklahoma House of Representatives championed tax cuts – primarily focusing on reducing the personal income… Read more [More...]
By: Emma Morris
December 7, 2022 // Updated: December 7, 2022
The rate of Oklahoma children without health care insurance decreased significantly – from 8.6 percent to 7.4 percent between 2019 and 2021, according to a new report from the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. This marked the nation’s largest… Read more [More...]
By: Emma Morris
November 2, 2022 // Updated: November 3, 2022
Oklahoma consistently ranks poorly on women’s and children’s health. While Oklahoma’s decision to expand Medicaid has significantly lowered the state’s uninsured rate, Oklahoma women have historically seen high rates of uninsurance. At 23.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, the… Read more [More...]
By: Emma Morris
September 6, 2022 // Updated: September 2, 2022
Fairness is a fundamental tenet of most Oklahomans’ beliefs: People should get equal pay for equal work and kids should have equal opportunity to succeed. Unfortunately, the state’s current tax system does not reflect this priority. Rather, our tax system… Read more [More...]
By: Emma Morris
June 28, 2022 // Updated: June 28, 2022
As of April 25, 2022, more than 280,000 Oklahomans across the state have been able to lead healthier lives because of Medicaid expansion. When voting to approve expanding Medicaid to include low-income, working-age adults, Oklahoma voters knew the benefits: expansion… Read more [More...]
Medicaid Expansion in Oklahoma: Year One: When Oklahoma voters passed Medicaid expansion in June 2020, they understood the benefits that expansion would bring to the state. They knew that providing health coverage to low-income, working-age adults would improve health outcomes,… Read more [More...]
By: Emma Morris
June 7, 2022 // Updated: July 7, 2022
The FY 2023 budget makes some good and long-awaited investments in Oklahomans. It also misses several critical opportunities to make generational change, such as investing in common education and funding State Question 781. [More...]
This year, Oklahoma lawmakers appropriated $10.68 billion to the state budget for Fiscal Year 2023, which begins on July 1, 2022. The FY 23 state budget includes some long-awaited investments in areas like access to mental health care and reducing the 13-year wait for services for individuals with developmental disabilities. [More...]
By: Emma Morris
May 16, 2022 // Updated: May 16, 2022
NOTE: Policy Fellow Josie Phillips contributed to this analysis
Cutting the corporate income tax — which was proposed in the failed House Bill 4358 — overwhelmingly benefits wealthy and out-of-state corporations over everyday Oklahomans and locally owned businesses. The Senate… Read more [More...]