OKPOLICY.ORG
In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
Today you should know that impending federal budget cuts could lead to 16,000 job losses in Oklahoma. Thousands of Oklahoma families and businesses are receiving rebate checks averaging $126 per family from their health insurance companies because of the Affordable Care Act. The OK Policy Blog previously discussed an attempt by Insurance Commissioner John Doak to stop Oklahoma families from receiving these rebates. A judge threw out a lawsuit by Oklahoma and six other states seeking to block the federal health care law’s requirement for insurance companies to provide contraception coverage.
The Oklahoma Dental Foundation’s Mobile Dental Unit provided free dental care in McAlester, with more lining up than they were able to treat. The OK Policy Blog discussed a study which shows conclusively that access to Medicaid dramatically improves families’ health and financial stability. Urban Tulsa Weekly writes that hysterics about the new health care law are bad for Oklahoma’s health.
Gov. Mary Fallin has rejected a state senator’s call to block a $2 million transfer of state Agriculture Department funding to the Oklahoma Youth Expo, a private livestock show in Oklahoma City. Fallin has not taken a position on federal legislation aimed collecting sales taxes in Internet purchases, but the measure is gaining support among Republican governors. The OK Policy Blog previously discussed what other states are doing to level the playing field between local business and online retailers.
The Number of the Day is the percentage of working-age Oklahoma adults living below the poverty line that are uninsured. In today’s Policy Note, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy provides four tax policy ideas that do more to promote jobs than would upper income tax cuts.
In The News
Federal budget cuts could lead to 16,000 job losses in Oklahoma
As more lawmakers begin to focus on impending federal budget cuts, the aerospace industry released a report Tuesday showing Oklahoma could lose nearly 8,000 defense-related jobs and a total of 16,000 jobs over the next 15 months if action isn’t taken to soften the blow. “Every state, every community, every industry will be on the chopping block,” Marion C. Blakely, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, said in releasing the report. The group’s report, conducted by George Mason University in Virginia, predicts that more than 1 million jobs would be lost nationwide because of the defense cuts set to take effect in January, and another 1.1 million would be lost because of cuts to other federal departments and agencies.
Families, businesses see rebate due to health law
Thousands of Oklahoma families and businesses are receiving rebate checks averaging $126 per family from their health insurance companies because of the Affordable Care Act. Rebates in the state total a little less than $20.3 million, representing 263,404 consumers, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data. The federal law – “Obamacare” to its opponents – requires health insurance companies to pay out a legally set proportion of its premium receipts in the form of health-care services. Every year, health insurance companies must report their medical-loss ratio to the federal government in June and issue rebate checks by Aug. 1 if they don’t meet the requirements. Ten health insurance companies licensed in Oklahoma – including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma, the state’s largest health insurance company – are paying rebates this year. Some 104,568 enrollees who carry their own individual insurance will be getting checks averaging $110 per family.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
Previously: Rebates for consumers or more profits for insurers? from the OK Policy Blog
Judge throws out contraception suit filed by Oklahoma, 6 other states
Seven attorneys general trying to block the federal health care law’s requirement for contraception coverage saw their lawsuit dismissed Tuesday by a federal judge who said they didn’t have standing to file it. U.S. District Court Judge Warren K. Urbom ruled that the states failed to prove they would suffer immediate harm once that part of the law is enacted. The Nebraska federal judge also noted that President Barack Obama’s administration has agreed to work with religious groups to try to address their concerns. The lawsuit was challenging a rule in the law that requires contraception coverage in health care plans — including for employees of church-affiliated hospitals, schools and outreach programs. The suit argued that the rule violated the rights of employers that object to the use of contraceptives, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs. The lawsuit was filed by Republican attorneys general from Nebraska, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.
Read more from The Associated Press.
Nearly $6,000 in free dental services provided by mobile unit
On Thursday and Friday, the Oklahoma Dental Foundation’s Mobile Dental Unit pulled alongside Caring Hands Health Care Center in McAlester to provide free dental treatment, a site the mobile unit has visited several times. Twenty-one patients received a total of $5,790.64 in various types of dental treatment, which included many tooth extractions and restorative care. Appointments filled up very quickly and some without appointments came hoping to fill any appointments that did not show. Among those with an appointment was a 61-year-old woman age 61 who had her first dental visit ever. She developed a fear of the dentist early in life, and spent her adulthood caring for her children’s needs above her own. But her dental pain and low-income caused her to seek help on the mobile dental unit. She received extensive extractions and is being referred locally to make arrangements for dentures.
Read more from McAlester News-Capital.
(Summer Re-Run) Medicaid Matters: Study finds coverage boosts health outcomes and financial security
As states and Washington grapple with ongoing budget shortfalls, the Medicaid program is often in the crosshairs of those calling for major reductions in government spending. But while the costs of funding Medicaid are readily apparent, we should not forget the program’s crucial role in providing health care for those who may be too poor or too unhealthy to buy coverage in the commercial insurance market. Recently, a path-breaking new study reported that when those without health insurance are enrolled in Medicaid, they see wide-ranging benefits in terms of access to health care services, better physical and mental health, and financial stability. These findings should assume great importance in ongoing state and federal debates on Medicaid and health care reform.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Health care hysterics
How do you put a state with abysmal overall health and very bad health care on an even more grisly trajectory? You can do it by sparking hysterics and forgetting the history of the last rounds of big change in US domestic policy. You can also get to the new badlands by failing to understand the mathematics of the new Affordable Care Act package and it’s huge, unambiguous benefits for a state with lots of uninsured people, armies of unhealthy folks and not much extra cash. When Social Security, and later Medicare and Medicaid came into play, there were howls that America was on a socialist path — a road packed with despotism, regimentation and the death of enterprise. This in a half-remembered time in US history, marked by routine poverty, even misery among huge fractions of our older population. Wildly, what we have now, in early 21st century America, is an epoch remarkably free of old age poverty: Older Americans are as vibrant, as free and as empowered as any cadre of aging people in human history.
Read more from Urban Tulsa Weekly.
Governor says youth expo can keep its funding
Gov. Mary Fallin has rejected a state senator’s call to block a $2 million transfer of state Agriculture Department funding to the Oklahoma Youth Expo, a private livestock show in Oklahoma City. The state budget increased the Agriculture Department’s budget by $2 million, and state officials have confirmed that the money is intended for the youth expo, the largest junior livestock show in the world. In a Tuesday news release, Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, called on Fallin to block the transfer. Anderson said the transfer of taxpayer dollars to a private charity, without the transparency demanded by the normal budgeting process, leaves the state government open to the appearance of impropriety. Alex Weintz, a spokesman for Fallin, said the governor would honor the budget deal to support the youth expo.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
Fallin undecided on Internet tax
Gov. Mary Fallin has not taken a position on federal legislation aimed collecting sales taxes in Internet purchases, her office said Tuesday. The measure, called the Marketplace Equity Act, pending in the U.S. House, appears to be gaining support among some Republican governors. It would let states require that online retailers collect sales taxes and remit them. “We haven’t reviewed the bill in its entirety, so that is something we need to do before commenting further on a particular piece of legislation,” said Alex Weintz, a Fallin spokesman. “It is certainly accurate that the governor is not pursing any new taxes at the state level as it relates to internet sales here in Oklahoma.” Currently, Oklahoma requires those who purchase items online to remit a use tax to the state, but many are unaware of the requirement, said Paula Ross, Oklahoma Tax Commission spokeswoman. Oklahoma loses between an estimated $185 million and $225 million as a result, she said.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
Previously: More states push to end the Amazon tax loophole. Will Oklahoma join them? from the OK Policy Blog
Quote of the Day
Self-reporting does not work. It is the biggest reason Fallin should take a hard look at this.
–Cari Marshall, owner of L & M Office Furniture in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, on federal legislation that would allow states to require online retailers to collect sales taxes. Oklahoma currently requires those who purchase items online to pay a use tax to the state, but many are unaware of the requirement, and as a result Oklahoma loses an estimated $185 million to $225 million each year.
Number of the Day
48 percent
Percentage of working-age Oklahoma adults living below the poverty line that are uninsured, 2011
Source: Current Population Survey
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Four tax ideas for jobs-focused governors
As the nation’s governors gather in Williamsburg, Virginia this week, their focus is on their Chairman’s initiative, Growing State Economies. Too often, however, a governor’s knee-jerk response to a lagging economy is to start cutting taxes, even though state tax cuts offer a demonstrably low economic bang-for-the-buck, for a number of reasons.1 Since most states are required to balance their budgets every year, any tax cut requires an offsetting cut in state services, which acts as a drag on economic growth. Moreover, tax cuts at the top of the income ladder (as opposed to the bottom) are particularly ill-suited to boosting consumer demand, yet this is where the bulk of many recent tax cut plans have been targeted. Finally, many state tax cuts actually result in federal tax hikes for those same taxpayers, causing millions of dollars to flow out of the state as taxpayers watch their federal tax deductions shrink. 2 Tax cuts aren’t the economic panacea that is often claimed, but there are ways in which governors can reform their states’ tax codes to pave the way for improved economic performance. Four such options are described below, along with some brief notes about current governors from both parties that have accepted or shunned these valuable policy options.
Read more from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
