Earlier this month, Oklahoma’s state Insurance Department issued a stark warning that should alarm us all.
When federally enhanced tax credits expire at the end of the year, some Oklahomans will see their health insurance premiums increase by over 75%. The state agency additionally warned that the termination of the federal program and stricter eligibility verification checks will likely “result in a significant decrease in enrollment.”
Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready, a Republican, has urged Congress “to take a softer approach to ending” the subsidies and warned that “the impact to Oklahoma hospital systems is yet to be realized.”
That’s because nearly 300,000 Oklahomans rely on the federal marketplace for health insurance. The tax credits, which end unless Congress takes action, provide financial assistance to help Americans afford health insurance through the marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act. The marketplace serves as a safety net for people who don’t have employer-sponsored plans or don’t qualify for public programs like Medicaid or Medicare.
Slightly over 10% of the nearly 4 million Oklahomans are already uninsured, higher than the national average of 8%.
Instead of taking Mulready’s suggestion for a “softer approach,” we’re getting the nuclear option of a federal government shutdown.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s Republican congressional representatives won’t publicly even consider a pitch by Democrats to permanently restore those federal health subsidies.
It makes them seem completely tone-deaf to the plight our state is facing even as they heroically fight for their party’s honor.
To be clear, I blame every elected official in D.C. for the shutdown that began Oct. 1. And, I think Democrats are foolhardy to try to use a shutdown like this to leverage this policy goal even if it is needed.
But I don’t understand why both sides can’t temporarily compromise on Republicans’ plan for a short-term extension that keeps the government open until Nov. 21 to give the GOP time to work out the logistics of continuing this vital program. I also don’t understand why Republicans won’t commit to extending this in exchange for ending this shutdown.
This inability to even consider compromise is making me wonder what we’re paying Congress for when they can’t even do their most basic job — pass a budget that lasts an entire fiscal year.
After all, they’re supposed to represent our needs in D.C. That should mean Oklahomans’ needs trump their political party’s. (No pun intended.)
And right now, 300,000 Oklahomans — and frankly our state’s entire health care system — need extended access to those affordable insurance premiums that Democrats are fighting for. (Americans covered by private employers also need access to affordable premiums, but that’s a whole other issue.)
I understand the reluctance to give Republicans more time, but the stakes are too high here to mess this up.
Still I figured our congressional delegations would be spending their days trying to broker a bipartisan compromise to make sure our state’s federal workers get paid.
Republican Sen. James Lankford, after all, showed an inspiring level of bipartisanship in 2024 when he worked across party lines to help develop a plan to help fix our immigration system. But his party rejected the proposal and hung him out to dry after then-presidential candidate Donald Trump pooh-poohed it, so I can understand his reluctance to stick his neck out here.
Maybe Lankford should be trying to keep a low profile, though. He apparently had so much time on his hands last week that he was making the rounds on seemingly any television show that would have him. He blamed Democrats trying to appeal to their “far-left base” even as service members risk missing paychecks because of the shutdown.
And then he was even so bold to post this gem on social media about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: “Sen. Schumer believes this shutdown is a success for the Democrats politically. You’ve got to be kidding me – members of our military are serving our country while not getting paid.”
You know who is getting paid? Lankford and Schumer.
Congress gets paid even if they’re not working because they’re protected by the U.S. Constitution during government shutdowns even while members of our military, air traffic controllers and hundreds of thousands of American employees go without.
Not to be left out, Republican U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice, asked Schumer on her social media account if he would “like to explain how missing a paycheck makes things better for hard-working Oklahomans?”
I’d be very curious to know how losing federal health insurance subsidies make things better for hard-working Oklahomans, too.
Americans are not paying our delegation to sit on their behinds and play the blame game on TV and social media.
It’s time for them to remember who they represent and take this my-way-or-the-highway mentality and shove it where it belongs. They should serve the voters, not their political parties.
This article appears in Oklahoma News Partners.