Protesters push for Medicaid expansion at a Feb. 5 rally at the state Capitol. Credit: Mark Hancock Oklahoma currently ranks near the bottom among states in terms of wellness. Both opponents and advocates of an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program say action is required to improve the state’s health. Fallin and other state leaders […]
coverage
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Medicaid expansion is affordable, and vital
Under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, the federal government will pay the lion’s share of the cost for Oklahoma to extend SoonerCare coverage to most uninsured low-income adults. This would provide coverage to about 150,000 residents living near the poverty level. Expanding Medicaid would cut Oklahoma County’s uninsured population nearly in half, with more […]
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Lobby for a loophole
Credit: Brad Gregg The Green family, founders and owners of the OKC-based company, don’t want to provide their employees insurance coverage for birth control — namely the morning-after pill — that they believe is tantamount to abortion. As a result, Hobby Lobby is facing $1.3 million in fines for each day it fails to comply […]
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Health matters
Dr.Fred Loper examines a patient at the Good Shepherd clinic. Credit: Mark Hancock “The end goal is for each person with health care needs to be directed or become a patient at the most appropriate place for them,” said Pam Cross, executive director of The Health Alliance for the Uninsured, a local nonprofit. The network […]
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Medicaid expansion is unaffordable
In like manner, I don’t recall Gov. Mary Fallin receiving open records requests from curious journalists when taxes were hiked in 2011 to prop up LBJ’s Medicaid program in Oklahoma. It was only when she decided in 2012 not to expand Medicaid that the watchdogs started barking. In any case, Gov. Fallin should be applauded […]
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Decisions of politics and compassion
We know what is causing the pain. Jane has a bad gallbladder that is full of stones — easy to fix. In the hospital Friday morning for surgery, home Friday afternoon, back at work Monday morning. Like hundreds of thousands of hardworking Oklahomans, Jane has no insurance and no way to pay for the surgery. […]
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Medi-can’t
However, with Gov. Mary Fallin’s announcement last month that the state would not expand Medicaid, George will have to stick with her current plan for a while longer. That plan: Don’t get sick. “I tried with DHS (Oklahoma Department of Human Services) to get some kind of medical (insurance), but they turned me down because […]
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Happy Canadians
Brake doesn’t mention that the Canadian dog will have to come up with thousands of dollars for the hip replacement while the human hip replacement is covered by the government program. Overall, the average Canadian is quite happy with the Canadian system. Brake could also have told us that every year thousands of Americans go […]
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Why we need health care reform
There were more than 30 million Americans without health insurance of any kind. We spend more per capita on health care than any country on earth. The World Health Organization ranked the U.S. 37th in access/affordability/quality of health care among the nations of the world. We spend 25 percent more per capita than the country […]
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Oklahoma needs the Affordable Care Act
Sound familiar? Under the Affordable Care Act, states will be given an opportunity to opt into an expanded provision of Medicaid, effective 2014. This provision in the ACA is of vital interest for Oklahoma. It means 200,000 more Oklahomans will be eligible, if they enroll, to receive health insurance (about 29 percent of Oklahomans are […]