Legislative group to study health issues

Aug. 10--The Oklahoma Legislature's new working group will study ways to improve Oklahomans' health, including options for reducing the number of uninsured people.

But the clock is ticking for the group, as a citizen-led movement to put Medicaid expansion before voters is already underway, Sen. Greg McCortney said Monday.

"The ballot initiative changes our timeline," said McCortney, an Ada Republican and co-chairman of the group. "It puts a lot more pressure on us to come up with something now."

McCortney said the group does not have an official timeline for completing its work, but he would like to see the panel come up with a plan this fall and present recommendations to the Legislature in February 2020.

Studying health care

House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat recently announced the creation of the bipartisan 20-member working group, which includes lawmakers from the Oklahoma House and Senate. Rep. Marcus McEntire, R-Duncan, and McCortney are the co-chairmen.

Gov. Kevin Stitt has appointed Deputy Secretary of Health Carter Kimble and Stitt's policy director, Samantha Davidson, to the group.

The group will take a comprehensive, multifaceted approach to solving the problem of reducing health care costs, improving care and ensuring that more Oklahomans have health insurance, McCall said in a July 29 news releasee. He said the group will study the current system's problems, but it will also look at what is working and what other states faced with the same challenges are doing.

"That means we need to bring everyone together -- patients, providers, policy experts, insurance carriers, facilities and state agencies -- and find a way forward," McCall said. "That discussion must include everything, not just Medicaid expansion, and it will need to continue until we have a solution that works for our citizens' unique needs."

Treat said in the same news release that the state must do a better job of improving health care for Oklahomans, and he believed that the new group was a step in that direction.

"Like we did previously with the House and Senate committee on medical marijuana, I'm confident this group will take a serious look at the issue and give useful recommendations for the Legislature to consider as we work to improve Oklahomans' access to quality, affordable health care," he said.

Medicaid expansion

Seven years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could opt out of Medicaid expansion, leaving it up to governors and state leaders to decide whether they wanted to participate.

Thirty-five states and Washington, D.C., have decided to expand their Medicaid programs, but Oklahoma lawmakers have resisted the idea so far. That could change, depending on how events play out over the next several months.

McCortney said Oklahoma's decision not to expand Medicaid has one big advantage: Other states have led the way on the issue, and their efforts could show Oklahoma what will work and what won't.

"They've tried a lot of things and failed, and they've tried a lot of other things and succeeded," he said. "I think we can take the best of all of those plans and put them together. We're not inventing the wheel; we're just perfecting it."

But finding alternatives to Medicaid expansion isn't the only challenge on the group's agenda. McCortney said he would like to see the group tackle other health-related issues, including Oklahoma's shortage of doctors and nurses.

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