Barking up the wrong tree again: New insurance legislation aims to offer more choices for third-rate coverage

We are following with keen interest legislation introduced this session by Senator Bill Brown that would allow for the issuing of health insurance coverage across state lines. SB 2046, which passed the Senate Retirement and Insurance committee and awaits consideration… Read more [More...]

Guest blog: Health care perspectives – Rethinking health reform, with a bigger brush

From time to time, we use the OK Policy blog to post submissions we receive from Oklahomans who have interesting perspectives on important policy issues for the state. This entry is from Jeff Alderman, M.D., an associate professor in the… Read more [More...]

Say "ow": Next round of Medicaid budget cuts to hit providers

According to an e-mail that went out late last Friday afternoon from Nico Gomez, the Deputy CEO for External Relations and Communications of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA), the agency will recommend to its Board this week that it… Read more [More...]

Health Care Reform for Dummies… and the French

Every year or two, I get an e-mail from my former housemate in France asking me to help make sense of some raging American political issue – impeachment, the electoral college, superdelegates – that is getting regular coverage abroad but… Read more [More...]

The crunch and the cliff: Medicaid funding faces dual perils

With Oklahoma in the midst of what is certain to be a severe and extended fiscal crisis, protecting core public services in every area of state government from deep and painful budget cuts poses a great challenge. However, protecting the… Read more [More...]

This American Health Care debate

As the national health care reform debate has unfolded this past year, we have occasionally tried to point our readers towards good sources for making sense of these complicated issues. This post from  the summer suggested some especially useful magazine… Read more [More...]

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...]

No free lunch: The cost and national security implications of school lunch

On September 30th, I attended a Leadership OK conference with an emphasis on health. Oklahoma and the United States have some disturbing statistics related to our health, specifically the obesity rates. The surprising part is how far reaching the implications are.… Read more [More...]

Health insurance reform explained.. in three steps!

The best flow chart ever, created by Nicholas Beaudrot of Donkeylicious, explaining how you would get health insurance if the major health care proposals under consideration by Congress were to pass:… Read more [More...]

Pleasant surprise: Oklahoma health insurance gains ground for all ages, types of coverage

As we noted right after the numbers were  released, last week’s Census Bureau report on health insurance coverage provided some unexpectedly good news for Oklahoma. While the nation as a whole saw an increase in the number of uninsured, which… Read more [More...]