Medicaid expansion hasn’t trickled down to legislative races

Oct. 30--email

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Despite the recent sparring between Oklahoma gubernatorial candidates, the issue of whether to expand Medicaid hasn't been a hot topic on doorsteps around the state.

In fact, voters generally don't utter the words "Medicaid expansion," said House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols, who is running for re-election in a district in southwest Oklahoma City.

"When you're on the doors in your district, that's where you really hear what the people care about," Echols, a Republican, said. "They don't say it the way politicians say it. For the most part, they're talking about how you are handling the issues that are affecting them in their day-to-day life."

When health care comes up, people talk about access, disability issues and the need for more primary care doctors, he said.

LaVelle Compton, a Democrat running against Echols, said Medicaid expansion has cracked the list of top three issues that voters talk to him about.

"They just want a better health care system in Oklahoma City," said Compton.

Compton described a recent outing to a mobile home park where he talked to prospective voters.

"Each person who was over the age of 70 told me the stories about how they're struggling how to pay out of pocket for certain types of health care," he said. "They're just frustrated that there isn't what seems to be an advocate to take care of those issues for them."

The Affordable Care Act allowed states to increase the number of people eligible to receive health care benefits through Medicaid. Many states did, but Gov. Mary Fallin rejected it and the federal funds that would have come along with expansion. Oklahoma is one of 17 states that hasn't expanded Medicaid.

The federal government would have paid 100 percent of the costs to expand coverage for the first few years. If Oklahoma expanded Medicaid now, the state would be on the hook for 10 percent of the cost.

A 2016 study commissioned by the Oklahoma Hospital Association reported more than a quarter of a million people would gain coverage under expansion. Doing so would cost Oklahoma up to $739 million over a five-year period.

Edmondson would need legislative help

Expanding Medicaid is a major issue in the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Drew Edmondson, who has said rejecting it was the worst decision Fallin made. Republican gubernatorial candidate Kevin Stitt opposes expansion.

If Edmondson wins, he would need the Legislature, still expected to be controlled by Republicans, to go along with him on any expansion plan.

In rural southwest Oklahoma, Republican Trey Caldwell said he's open to hearing a debate about it but said no one has raised the issue.

"If you could frame it, and explain it to them how it's going to be beneficial to this particular area, then there may be an appetite for it. But I haven't done enough research into it to have a concrete position on the issue," said Caldwell, who is running to represent an area south of Lawton where some people have to drive almost an hour to reach a hospital.

The hospital in Pauls Valley closed this month amid a financial crisis blamed on mismanagement. Even there, it hasn't been a doorstep topic, said Cynthia Roe and Sherrie Conley, Republican candidates for the two state House districts in the area.

In the House district represented by Speaker Charles McCall, his Democratic challenger hasn't seen people "waving, jumping up and down" for it, he said. Wayne Eidson supports expansion, however. McCall could not be reached for comment.

"We need to get our money out of Washington," Eidson said. "I know a lot of people shudder because it was called 'Obamacare,' and I can see where they're coming from. It's our money up there, and we need it."

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