The Oklahoma Health Care Authority will start taking applications for coverage under Medicaid expansion a month before it takes effect.
The application process will open June 1 at mysoonercare.org, giving newly eligible Oklahomans time to be approved for SoonerCare before coverage begins July 1.
Adults 19 to 64 years old with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level will be eligible. That's $17,796 a year for one person or $36,588 for a family of four.
An estimated 200,000 additional Oklahomans can get coverage under expansion, and they won't be the only ones to benefit.
"Our provider groups — that’s our hospitals, our physicians and others — will certainly benefit from this by virtue of they’re now going to be compensated that they have provided in the past on an uncompensated basis," said OHCA CEO Kevin Corbett.
From July 1 through Sept. 30, new enrollees will get SoonerCare benefits that are available today.
On Oct. 1, OHCA plans to transition to a managed care program known as SoonerSelect. Four private companies will receive up to a total of $2 billion to coordinate care.
The legislature is still determining how to pay for the state’s roughly $160 million share of Medicaid expansion costs, and they are considering action to halt the transition to managed care in favor of having OHCA oversee the expanded Medicaid program.