Topic: Health Coverage

Want healthier moms? Expand Medicaid

As a state, Oklahoma cares a lot about children and families, but we sometimes forget that a mother’s health is a critical piece of family health. When women are healthy, they have healthier pregnancies, healthier babies, and healthier families. But too many Oklahoma women die of child-birth related causes, and too many Oklahoma babies don’t live to see their first birthday. [More...]

Medicaid expansion could help address Oklahoma’s surging meth crisis

In 2017, methamphetamine (also known as speed or ice) was one of the main contributors to Oklahoma’s overdose deaths. It’s difficult to recover from methamphetamine addiction — most individuals relapse within their first year of treatment. Medicaid expansion would allow the state to serve lower-income populations that are affected by meth use by making addiction treatment available to a greater portion of the state. [More...]

Trump Administration reaches right decision for wrong reasons on partial Medicaid expansion (Guest Post: Jessica Schubel)

The Administration’s decision to deny enhanced federal funding for partial expansion will protect coverage for millions of people who have it. It should also spur more states that have been considering partial expansion or other alternatives, such as Georgia and Oklahoma, to move forward with full expansion instead. [More...]

Expanding health coverage could mean fewer cancer deaths in Oklahoma

Oklahoma is in the bottom 10 states for cancer outcomes and can do more to combat it. Expanding coverage has clear benefits that would help catch cancer earlier and prevent patient’s financial ruin. It is time to accept federal funding and expand coverage for Oklahomans. [More...]

What you need to know about coverage expansion

Although time is running out, legislators could still advance a bill this session – or they may punt to a summer working group, putting the issue on a collision course with a likely ballot initiative. Regardless, this is a complex issue that inevitably raises a lot of question. Some of the most popular ones, and their answers, are below [More...]

“Health coverage expansion saved my life.”

Watch the video to hear Steve's story, and then tell your lawmakers to bring our federal tax dollars back home to Oklahoma. Legislators and Governor Stitt still have time to do the right thing this session. [More...]

Oklahoma has a health care problem. Some lawmakers are advancing the wrong solution.

Oklahoma has the second-highest uninsured rate in the country, with nearly 1 in every 7 Oklahomans uninsured. This is a big problem – and some legislators are pushing to expand the availability of short-term insurance and association health plans (AHPs). Unfortunately, these are lousy insurance options. [More...]

Oklahoma has the chance to expand access to care. Here’s why that matters.

It’s been a few years since coverage expansion has been seriously entertained by state leadership, and both the state and federal landscape has shifted significantly in the meantime. Here’s a refresher of who should be covered. [More...]

Bill Watch: Optimism and caution on the health care front

In previous years, health care legislation has often come with a sense of existential crisis, as budget cuts and efforts to take away coverage have loomed large. But this year, with a new administration and a healthier budget, lawmakers have a chance to reverse course and offer more readily accessible quality health care in Oklahoma. [More...]

2019 Priority: Safeguard access to quality health care by rejecting ‘junk coverage’

Download this fact sheet as a printable pdf here. Read about the rest of OK Policy’s 2019 Legislative Policy Priorities here. Before 2013, widely-available junk health insurance coverage left patients at the mercy of big insurance companies, with coverage that… Read more [More...]