SQ 802: Medicaid Expansion – Information and resources

Carly Putnam // July 19, 2019 // Updated: January 11, 2020
Advocacy Alerts // Featured Voting & Elections // // //

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. OK Policy has endorsed SQ 802; you can see our statement of support here and find out how to get involved with the SQ 802 campaign here.

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What is State Question 802?

State Question 802 is an initiative petition intended to give Oklahoma voters the chance in 2020 to expand Medicaid to low-income adults in Oklahoma.

The ballot initiative is run by the group Yes on SQ 802: Oklahomans Decide Healthcare. Medicaid expansion in Oklahoma would cover approximately 200,000 people.

To date, Oklahoma is one of just 14 states that has not expanded its Medicaid programs to include low-income working adults. Thirty-six states and Washington, DC have expanded Medicaid. Medicaid expansion was authorized by the Affordable Care Act and became available to states in 2014. The state legislature seriously considered expansion for the first time in 2019, when SB 605 became the first Medicaid expansion bill heard in a legislative committee. Although the bill passed out of committee unanimously, it died when it was not heard before the next legislative deadline.

Where are things now?

On January 9th, 2020, the Secretary of State certified that all requirements for placing the initiative petition on the ballot have been successfully satisfied. 

What happens next?

It is now up to Governor Kevin Stitt to set the date for when SQ 802 will be on the ballot in 2020. The Governor has several possible statewide elections to choose from: the Presidential primary election in March; the general primary election in June, the primary runoff in August, or the general election in November. Alternately, the Governor can call a special election. Whenever it is held, the initiative would have to receive 50 percent or more votes to pass.    

The ballot initiative may not be the only expansion effort under consideration in 2020. In May 2019, Governor Kevin Stitt said he expected to unveil a customized Medicaid expansion plan in late summer or early fall 2019. In July, legislative leaders announced the formation of a bicameral working group, chaired by Sen. Greg McCortney (R-Ada) and Rep. Marcus McEntire (R-Duncan) to develop a plan to expand access to health care and increase coverage of uninsured Oklahomans. The working group’s first meeting was August 14th and it continued to hold regular meetings throughout the fall. As part of the Governor’s efforts to develop an alternative to Medicaid expansion, in November, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority signed a $1.5 million contract with Health Management Associates to develop a plan to redesign the state’s health care system. The consultant’s work could lead to legislation in 2020 to expand Medicaid in a different form than considered by SQ 802.

Even if the Legislature passes an expansion bill, SQ 802 would still appear on the ballot in 2020. In this situation, if the initiative passes, it should supersede the legislative expansion because the initiative is a constitutional amendment while the legislative expansion would be statutory.

What has happened already?

The ballot initiative process in Oklahoma formally began in April 2019, when two Oklahoma women, Kelly Smalley and Erin Taylor, filed a petition with the Oklahoma Secretary of State. It was designated State Question 802 (SQ 802) by the Secretary of State’s office. The Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs  filed a legal challenge shortly thereafter, alleging that SQ 802 was unconstitutional and the gist was inadequate. The state Supreme Court disagreed, and on June 19, the state Supreme Court cleared the way for a Medicaid expansion ballot initiative, or State Question, to move forward.

Advocates began collecting signatures to place SQ 802 on the ballot on July 31, 2019. Organizers had until 5pm on October 28, 2019 to collect some 178,000 signatures (15 percent of the total number of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election).  On October 24th, organizers turned in some 313,000 signatures to the Secretary of State, far surpassing the number of valid signatures needed to get on the ballot. The Secretary of State counted 299,371 signatures. On November 14th, the Attorney General submitted a revised ballot title for State Question 802.

Oklahoma’s efforts to expand Medicaid via ballot initiative follow successful expansion ballot initiatives in four states: Maine in 2017, and Nebraska, Idaho, and Utah in 2018. In all four states, the Governor and/or Legislature has sought to roll back or limit the full expansions approved by voters. This prompted organizers in Oklahoma to seek a constitutional rather than statutory amendment – putting Medicaid expansion in the state constitution limits the state Legislature’s ability to tamper with it.

What does the ballot initiative say?

The official ballot title for State Question 802, as amended by Attorney General Mike Hunter, reads as follows:

Medicaid is a government-sponsored health insurance program for qualifying low-income persons. This measure would add a provision to the Oklahoma Constitution requiring the State to expand Medicaid coverage. The expanded coverage would include certain persons over 18 and under 65 who are not already covered and whose annual income, as calculated under federal law, is at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty line. The federal poverty line changes annually, but for example if this measure were in effect in 2019, the measure generally would have covered a single adult making less than $17,236 annually and adults in a family of four making less than $35,535 annually.

Under this measure the State cannot create additional restrictions that make it more difficult to qualify for expanded Medicaid coverage than it is to qualify for the Medicaid program currently in place.

The Medicaid program is funded jointly by the federal government and the State. This measure would require the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) to try to maximize federal funding for Medicaid expansion in Oklahoma. If the measure is approved, OHCA has 90 days to submit all documents necessary to obtain federal approval for implementing Medicaid expansion by July 1, 2021.

 

General information:

Campaign Pages:

How to Get Involved:

News:

  • Medicaid expansion campaign turns in 313,000 signatures, breaks record (Oklahoman)
  • Medicaid petition makes goal of 178,000 signatures, campaign says (Tulsa World)
  • Advocates push Medicaid expansion in Oklahoma (StateImpact Oklahoma)
  • ‘Leaving billions of dollars on the table‘ Rural hospitals foundering in states that declined Obamacare (Gatehouse News)
  • ‘Yes on 802’ making way through Oklahoma (Duncan Banner)
  • SQ 802: Court moves Medicaid expansion effort forward (NonDoc)
  • Proponents rally, urges lawmakers to expand health coverage now (The Oklahoman)
  • Oklahoma’s rural hospitals see a lifeline in Medicaid expansion (StateImpact Oklahoma)

Studies:

Op-eds and editorials:

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carly Putnam // Twitter @CarlyPutnam // cputnam@okpolicy.org

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.