Topic: Health

What we get wrong about homelessness and mental health (Commentary)

Too often, when conversations about homelessness come up, someone says it: “Well, they’re all mentally ill.” It’s a comment tossed off as fact, but it reveals something deeper — not truth, but comfort. If homelessness is just the result of… Read more [More...]

What Oklahomans need to know about expiring ACA premium tax credits

What’s happening with the ACA premium tax credits? Since 2014, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has made health insurance more accessible by creating online Marketplaces where people can compare plans and qualify for help paying monthly payments (aka premiums). That… Read more [More...]

How the not-so-beautiful bill will push eligible Oklahomans off SoonerCare

Medicaid – known in Oklahoma as SoonerCare – is the health backbone for nearly a million Oklahomans: children, working parents, people with disabilities, and seniors. But under the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” also known as H.R. 1, that foundation is… Read more [More...]

Housing ends homelessness. Confinement makes it worse (Commentary)

President Trump recently signed an executive order expanding forced institutionalization of unhoused people with mental illness or substance use disorders. His administration has branded it as an act of “compassion” and “public safety.” Stripped of its veneer, it is neither.… Read more [More...]

Groundbreaking report reveals more than $200 million in savings from Oklahoma justice reform

A new report shows how Oklahoma voters’ decision to prioritize rehabilitation over incarceration has resulted in a dramatic drop in crime, a 47 percent reduction in prison sentences, and the largest local mental health and substance abuse investment in state… Read more [More...]

Community-led crisis response is working, but Oklahoma needs a statewide solution (Commentary)

Oklahoma City's new Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) program represents a meaningful step toward the justice reform envisioned by Oklahoma voters nearly a decade ago. But expanding similar services beyond metro areas requires sustained commitment and investment from the state. [More...]

Dental Therapy Act (HB 2921) can help address our dental care needs 

Contact your legislator in support of the Oklahoma Dental Therapy Act, House Bill 2921. • Find your lawmaker using OK Policy’s Legislator Lookup The Dental Therapy Act in Oklahoma can help address our unmet dental care needs This legislative session,… Read more [More...]

Black Health: Dying in Oklahoma (Commentary)

Neither the United States Constitution nor the Bill of Rights guarantee health care as a basic right for any American. Our nation and our neighbors struggle with access to affordable health care and prescription medicine. However, for Black Oklahomans, lack… Read more [More...]

Passing Dental Therapy Legislation in Oklahoma: Offering Essential Services in Underserved Areas (Guest Article)

Lawmakers should consider dental therapy legislation to expand needed essential dental services for the state's rural, Tribal, and underserved communities. [More...]

Meaningful change still needed to address mounting problems in the child welfare and youth justice systems (2024 Legislative Wrap-up)

Oklahoma is not known for being a safe and hospitable place for children. Oklahoma, for the second year in a row, ranks 46th nationally in overall child well-being. Lawmakers sought to address this problem in the 2024 session by passing budget increases to vital services like the child welfare and youth justice systems. However, Oklahoma’s structural budget deficit has meant that state agencies and service providers in the child welfare systems have continually been forced to do more with less year after year. [More...]