Tag: Medicaid

Medicaid in-home support programs: getting more for less

From time to time we publish guest blog posts that help illuminate a policy issue or advance the discussion of public policy in Oklahoma (see our guest blog guidelines). This post was written by Laura Dempsey-Polan of Life Senior Services,… Read more [More...]

Health care reform: Expanding Medicaid for lowest-income adults

As the national health care reform debate continues to heat up, most of the controversy has centered on such hot-button issues as the public  option, individual and employer mandates, and paying for expanded coverage. One issue that is of considerable… Read more [More...]

July Numbers Bulletin shows what a rough year it's been

This week we released the July edition of Numbers You Need, our monthly bulletin of key economic and budget trends.  The monthly report contained some glimmers of good news, as the state’s unemployment rate rose by a relatively modest 0.1… Read more [More...]

Starving the Beast: Government in lean times

As we’ve discussed in various blog posts and issue briefs, most state agencies received basically flat funding or were dealt budget cuts of 5 to 7 percent for the new fiscal year beginning July 1st, even as inflation leads to… Read more [More...]

Updates from Stimulusland

OK Policy is pleased to launch a new monthly Stimulus Update publication. Each month we will take a quick look at one set of federal stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA) programs. Each issue includes a short review… Read more [More...]

The cliff effect: "Sorry, I can't afford that raise"

In recent years, whenever I’ve participated in forums on poverty and barriers to self-sufficiency, the single barrier raised most often and most fervently by those who work with low-income individuals and by low-income individuals themselves is the “cliff effect”. A… Read more [More...]

Appointments we can believe in

Anyone who has worked over the years to support access to health care for low-income children and families will be heartened to learn that the Obama administration has appointed Cindy Mann to lead the Centers for Medicaid and State Operations,… Read more [More...]

State Coverage Initiative: Will consensus be enough?

Last week,  I attended a meeting of the State Coverage Initiative (SCI), an effort that has taken shape over the past two years under the leadership of Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland to develop a plan to extend health insurance coverage… Read more [More...]

Holes in the net

Recently, The New York Times had a front-page article spotlighting the extent to which victims of the economic downturn are able to access public benefits that are part of the nation’s safety net.  Most programs, including Unemployment Insurance, food stamps,… Read more [More...]

Safeguarding Medicaid eligibility in the budget downturn

During the last state fiscal crisis, from 2002 -04, funding for Oklahoma’s Medicaid program was hit hard. In FY ’02 and FY ’03, as revenues began to plummet, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) put coverage of almost all non-mandatory… Read more [More...]