OKPOLICY.ORG
In the final week of budget hearings before the legislative session begins this week, appropriations subcommittees heard from some of the health and human services agencies. The agencies are asking for basically maintenance increases in their budgets for fiscal year 2026, which starts on July 1, 2025.
Department of Human Services (DHS) Executive Director Jeffrey Cartmell made it a point to tell the House Appropriations and Budget Human Services Subcommittee that, after being appointed as director by Gov. Stitt and starting the job on Sept. 14, he had only two weeks to pare down the requests the various DHS divisions had submitted to be included in the agency’s budget. The budget is due to the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) by October 1.
The final DHS request was $7.7 million to increase the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) due to the anticipated lowering from 67.08 percent to 66.47 percent federal funding for Oklahoma; and $15 million to fully fund the provider rate increases approved by the legislature last year.
Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) Chief Executive Officer Ellen Buettner requested almost $83.3 million for an estimated 3.7 percent traditional Medicaid program growth and 9.9 percent Medicaid expansion growth to maintain Oklahoma’s current Medicaid program, plus a one-time $16.7 million appropriation to fund the state’s portion of unfunded Long-Term Care facility rate increases passed last year.
The OHCA request also included about $10 million to replace a decline in revenue from the state tobacco tax, from which OHCA receives funding. In addition, OHCA needs $26 million in FY2026 due to the anticipated FMAP change.
Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) Commissioner Keith Reed presented the agency’s only two requests to the A&B Subcommittee on Health: $706,383 for the annual cost of administration of the Rx for Oklahoma — a service that helps Oklahomans with long-term prescription medication costs — which was transferred to OSDH from the Department of Commerce, and $1.3 million to operate the Office of Client Advocacy, that was transferred from DHS to OSDH by the legislature. Those funds could be removed from the former agencies.
Allie Friesen, Commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS), presented the agency’s funding requests which included five requests for additional funding. The first two were $10.8 million for Medicaid growth in utilization and more than $23 million for the ODMHSAS FMAP increase.
In addition, ODMHSAS is requesting $17.8 million for the Statewide Competence Restoration Plan, $5.5 million for upgrades to the ODMHSAS Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system and Electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR) system, and $500,000 for the Statewide Behavioral Health Incident Reporting System.
The big-ticket items for ODMHSAS are the $23 million for the FMAP percentage increase, the $10.8 million for increased utilization of Medicaid and the $17.8 million for the Statewide Competence Restoration Plan. The first two are to maintain current services and the Statewide Competence Restoration Plan is the result of the federal lawsuit settlement intended to more quickly restore jail inmates to competence so they can stand trial.
Interestingly, the state has over a half billion dollars ($595.7 million) in a savings account set aside for FMAP increases, so the $56.7 million in requests shouldn’t be a problem.
All these health and human services requests reflect essentially the cost to maintain the current level of services with no funding for progress toward better services. They are as close to a flat budget as you can get without cutting services except for the Statewide Restoration Plan, which was forced by a federal lawsuit. They also appear to reflect Gov. Stitt’s desire for a cut in the state income tax.
