The state extended the early renewal deadline on policies to Nov. 30, 2014. This move allows more time to ACA requirement, also known as Obamacare. Earlier deadlines have been targeted as the reason other states have seen a surge in cancellations, Tulsa World reported. Only about 2.5 percent of the state’s population buys insurance on […]
coverage
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The problem is cost, not coverage
According to Obamacare, the federal government would cover 90 percent of the cost of such an expansion long-term. States would be required to pay the difference. When passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama, the Obamacare Medicaid expansion was mandatory, but in a 7-2 decision, the United States Supreme Court made the Medicaid […]
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Still fighting
David Green The crafts retailer has until Oct. 21 to file a response to a 251-page appeal filed by U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli and other government attorneys who want the high court to hear more about why the chain should or should not include contraceptives in its required healthcare coverage to employees. Hobby […]
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Navigating the maze
Like many nonprofits, the foundation uses its limited funds not for outward appearance but for providing services to people in need. In this case, it offers life skills training, socialization and therapy to central Oklahomans with developmental disabilities who may otherwise have few enriching activities during the day. Available resources at nonprofits also create lower […]
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Advancing Medicaid reform
The consultants recommended accepting federal Medicaid-expansion funding but using it to underwrite private insurance purchases for poor Oklahomans. SB 640 would have given these citizens a choice of private insurance or the present SoonerCare insurance plan. The Leavitt Partners wanted to push eligible clients to use the ACA’s health-insurance exchange and Indian Health Services. SB […]
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Getting real
Credit: Brad Gregg His reasoning? Well, as much as he’d “love” to kill the omnibus measure, Coburn just doesn’t think it’s sound political strategy. “I’d be leading the charge if I thought this would work, but it will not work,” he said. “It’s a denial of reality mixed with a whole bunch of hype to […]
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Time to inform, not denounce
Attorney General Scott Pruitt continues his futile attempt to have it declared unconstitutional. Gov. Mary Fallin refuses to accept our tax dollars back from Washington, D.C., to cover Oklahomans most in need of health coverage. Insurance Commissioner John Doak calls the ACA a “disaster,” and although his agency has received a federal grant to inform […]
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None dare call it ‘expansion’
Credit: Brad Gregg The Affordable Care Act, you might recall, allows states to get federal funds to expand Medicaid coverage for people earning less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Such a move would provide health insurance for almost 200,000 uninsured Oklahomans, but Gov. Mary Fallin rejected the federal dollars late last year. […]
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Flatlined
Hundreds of Oklahomans in need of free dental care packed the Oklahoma Mission of Mercy in Lawton last month. Photo: Clifton Adcock On a cold February evening at the Comanche County Fairgrounds in Lawton, a steady stream of people entered the building and walked between the cattle gates erected on either side herding them to […]
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Right-thinking governors
Democrats have been arguing for quite a while that Medicaid expansion is the only fiscally responsible path forward. Now their argument has been endorsed by Kasich, who has impeccable conservative credentials, since he is a former chairman of the House Budget Committee and a former Fox News analyst. Kasich built his political identity arguing for […]