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The Weekly Wonk is a summary of Oklahoma Policy Institute’s events, publications, blog posts, and coverage. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.
Policy analyst Tiece Dempsey was quoted in Urban Tulsa Weekly’s article discussing the expansion of health coverage for the uninsured. OK Policy Director David Blatt’s Journal Record column discussed some rays of hope for people who feel discouraged about current affairs in Oklahoman.
On our blog we noted that uninsured Oklahomans will have access to affordable health insurance options when the new health insurance marketplaces open October 1st. We also showed that Oklahoma’s poor and middle-class families pay a much larger share of their income in state and local taxes that do the wealthiest and looked at the costs and benefits of recycling programs in Oklahoma cities. Lastly, we shared the story of an Oklahoman serving a long prison sentence for a minor crime.
- 5.5 percent – Percentage of consumer credit accounts – first mortgages, student loans, credit cards, auto loans, and ‘other’ – that are delinquent in Oklahoma, on par with the national delinquency rate
- 1st – Oklahoma’s rank among the states for prescription painkiller abuse, which now kills more residents than motor vehicle accidents
- 397,000 – The projected increase in college graduates that Oklahoma needs to acheive by 2025 to keep its residents prepared for the jobs of the future
- 13,759 – Number of Oklahomans incarcerated in state prisons for nonviolent offenses, more than half of the total number incarcerated
Policy Notes
- Urban Tulsa Weekly explored the crucial role of Medicaid and Medicaid expansion for the Native American health system in Oklahoma.
- An animated chart by Calculated Risk Finance and Economics shows the United States’ changing population distribution by age from 1900 to projections for 2060.
- The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities looked at the state of Social Security for the highly successful program’s 78th birthday.
- Sam Stein reported on how federal budget cuts are damaging scientific research in America.
