Billions of dollars for Oklahoma and health care for hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans at stake in this election (Capitol Update)

Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol.

The new CEO of the Oklahoma Hospital Association (OHA), Patti Davis, has decided to advocate openly for Medicaid expansion to access federal health care funding under the Affordable Care Act. Oklahoma has missed out on this funding since 2012 when Governor Fallin decided to abandon any effort to claim these tax dollars Oklahoma sends to Washington D.C. In the past the OHA has been shy about using the term “Medicaid expansion,” preferring euphemisms in hopes of avoiding association with the hated “Obamacare.” The strategy hasn’t worked because die hards against the Affordable Care Act, constantly on guard against the health care funding, were not fooled.

In an article published in the Oklahoman last week, Ms. Davis pointed out that “if Oklahoma were to accept federal funds to cover the uninsured, possibly through the public/private partnership Insure Oklahoma program as we have proposed, the economic benefit would be in the billions to our state each year.” She cites an analysis by an Oklahoma State University economist in 2016, that over a 5-year period if Oklahoma had accepted federal funds for health care coverage, more than $14.5 billion would have been injected into our state’s economy and more than 24,000 health care-related jobs would have been created.

Ms. Davis goes on to say, “We’re all in this together. Injecting these dollars into health care is a win for education, corrections and mental health. The notion that expanding health care coverage would take money away from other areas, such as education, simply isn’t true. Schools and communities suffer when citizens don’t have access to vital health care services. When our citizens don’t have access to mental health coverage, our jails and prisons, unfortunately, become the default. And an injection of federal dollars into health care frees up state money for other agencies.”

In case you’re wondering where the two major candidates for governor stand on Medicaid expansion, they were both quoted directly in another Oklahoman article by Chris Casteel on June 17, 2018, as follows:

“Kevin Stitt, a Tulsa businessman, said, ‘I do not support expanding Medicaid … Obamacare is a disastrous law that Congress should repeal and replace with a solution that encourages a competitive business climate to drive down cost for all Oklahomans and increase health care options.'”

And from Drew Edmondson: “Rejecting the Medicaid expansion funds is the worst decision the governor made since taking office,” Democratic candidate Drew Edmondson said. “On my first day as governor, I’ll begin the process of reversing that harmful decision.”