Around 150,000 Oklahomans lack health insurance because they’re too poor for federal insurance marketplace subsidies but too wealthy for Medicaid, and state House Democrats want to change that this year.
Minority Leader Emily Virgin said Medicaid expansion would greatly benefit struggling rural hospitals.
"Several rural hospitals have closed or declared bankruptcy or are in serious financial trouble, and this would help them out a great deal because those are the areas where we see the highest numbers of Medicaid-eligible folks and those folks who would be covered under this expansion," Virgin said.
Virgin is working on legislation and said Medicaid expansion is a top priority.
"We’ll again be focusing a lot on education and restoring classroom funding and another teacher pay raise, but I would say this is on equal footing with that issue," Virgin said.
Besides the financial benefit for rural hospitals, Democrats will emphasize Medicaid expansion’s economic benefits, like a nine-to-one federal funding match. If that doesn't get Republicans to bite, however, Virgin noted voters in deep-red Idaho, Nebraska and Utah just approved Medicaid expansion in their states.
"We know that it’s a popular proposition with the voters. And so, our thinking is that if the legislature isn’t willing to enact this policy, then we are prepared to take it to the people," Virgin said.
