A lose-lose situation: Oklahoma still wears health law blinders

Last summer, the United States Supreme Court in National Federation of Independent Business vs. Sebelius (NFIB) found the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) to be constitutional. The re-election of President Obama confirmed that the law would continue to… Read more [More...]

Lessons unlearned?

Last week, the House passed HB 1552 by Rep. Mark McCullough, R-Sapulpa. Inspired by Florida’s Medicaid managed care program, the bill would move the entire statewide Medicaid population, including seniors and persons with disabilities who are receiving long-term care, into… Read more [More...]

Extending Medicaid Would Help Oklahoma Veterans

[Download 2- page fact sheet] In November 2012, Gov. Mary Fallin said she would not accept federal funds to extend Medicaid coverage to working Oklahomans with incomes of up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line. The decision will… Read more [More...]

Extending Medicaid would help Oklahoma veterans

In June 2012, the United States Supreme Court found the Affordable Care Act (ACA) constitutional. However, the ruling allowed the states to decide whether they would accept federal funds to expand Medicaid benefits. Gov. Mary Fallin announced on November 19,… Read more [More...]

Medicaid proves its worth

Extending health coverage to more uninsured people through Medicaid is at the core of the Affordable Care Act’s efforts to ensure access to affordable health insurance for millions of Americans.  Currently in Oklahoma, nearly fifty per cent of low-income adults… Read more [More...]

Medicaid Proves Its Worth in Oklahoma

[Download full issue brief] [Download 2-page fact sheet] System is Far From ‘Broken’ and is Ready to Handle Expansion Accepting federal dollars to extend Medicaid would provide substantial economic benefits to Oklahoma, save the state millions of dollars that now… Read more [More...]

The dangers of cherry-picking facts, part 2

In a recent blog post, we took issue with claims about state spending made by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. The post pointed out that OCPA left out important facts – namely that nominal spending numbers are meaningless without… Read more [More...]

What’s unaffordable?

In her 2013 State of the State address, Governor Mary Fallin reiterated her opposition to accepting federal dollars to provide coverage to uninsured Oklahomans through Medicaid, as provided under the Affordable Care Act. In states that extend Medicaid, the federal… Read more [More...]

How Much Would Extending Medicaid Cost?

[Download this fact sheet as a pdf.] Accepting federal funds to extend Medicaid would involve modest state costs while generating enormous economic and health benefits In Oklahoma, one in two low-income adults lack health insurance. They struggle to access timely,… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Dr. John Schumann): Helmet heads and common sense

John Henning Schumann, a writer and doctor in Tulsa, runs the Internal Medicine residency at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine. An earlier version of this post ran on his Glass Hospital blog. He is on Twitter @GlassHospital… Read more [More...]