Uncertainty permeated Wednesday’s meeting of the Tulsa City-County Board of Health over whether the agency it oversees might be next to lose funding due to federal spending cuts.
The Tulsa Health Department describes itself as having a “fundamental and complex” role in the area. The department is involved in everything from restaurant inspections to childhood immunizations, employing people in fields from nursing to emergency preparedness.
Oklahoma has already seen the effects of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) championed by billionaire ally Elon Musk. The White House office helped fire scores of federal workers in the Sooner State and a copycat initiative has taken shape at the state level.
“Staff are very concerned,” said Tulsa Health Department Executive Director Dr. Bruce Dart during Wednesday’s meeting. “Anxiety levels here are extremely high.”
The Tulsa Health Department reported over $43 million in total revenue in fiscal year 2023-2024. More than $13 million, or about 30%, came from federal grant money, according to a 2024 report from an independent auditor.
In that same June 2024 report, the department says it’s already on shaky ground, facing issues with “disinformation,” the managed care model of Medicaid pushed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, and ever-increasing budget cuts.
“Our local public health system is under severe and increasing pressure as the Department has been expected to take on more responsibilities with fewer resources and regardless of the popular mantra you must do more with less, all you do with less is less,” reads the report.
Now, the department says it’s not even sure what it can do at all.
“Right now, we’re in the middle of budget development,” Dart told the board. “It’s really difficult to develop a budget when you don’t know if the dollars are coming or not. We’re proceeding like they are because it’s much easier to cut dollars away than put them back in.”
THD’s consultants are also uncertain about what the future looks like.
“Things are a little bit disheveled right now,” said Scott Adkins, a former state representative and legislative consultant.
“In my opinion…it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” he said. “In 30 years of doing this type of work, I have never felt more helpless.”
Consultant Alexandra Adkins warned of likely cuts to subsidies on the federal healthcare marketplace and a potential “big spike in our uninsured rates.”
Medicaid, which Oklahomans voted to expand in 2020, hangs in the balance. Republicans have vowed to keep the anti-poverty program untouched, but critics say that’s impossible with the amount of slashing needed to support the party’s proposed tax cuts that'll see the wealthiest Americans reaping the most benefit.
