Oklahoma Legislature forms Medicaid expansion, health care working group

Jul. 29--Leaders of Oklahoma's House and Senate announced plans Monday for a bipartisan, bicameral working group to study health care in what may be the most telling sign to date the Legislature plans to tackle Medicaid expansion next year.

The working group will discuss forming an Oklahoma-specific plan to expand access to health care and increase coverage of uninsured Oklahomans.

Medicaid expansion will surely be part of the conversation as Gov. Kevin Stitt and legislative leaders look for an alternative health care plan to an initiative petition to expand Medicaid that's quickly gaining steam.

Sen. Greg McCortney, R-Ada, and Rep. Marcus McEntire, R-Duncan, will lead the working group. Both Republicans support Oklahoma unlocking additional federal funds to expand health care coverage to more uninsured Oklahomans.

The 20-person working group includes 18 elected officials. Half are from the House and half are from the Senate. Republicans make up the majority of the members with Democrats having two representatives from each chamber on the working group.

The group also includes two representatives from the governor's office. They are Deputy Secretary of Health Carter Kimble and Samantha Davidson, the governor's policy director.

The health care working group will be similar to the medical marijuana working group that met for 13 weeks last year to devise policy to aid in the implementation of State Question 788.

A slew of legislation, including the so-called "unity bill," emerged from last year's working group and was introduced during this year's legislative session.

House Speaker Charles McCall said the medical marijuana working group was successful because the committee heard from a wide variety of people on the issue and examined successful strategies from other states.

"Healthcare is a very complex issue ... It is going to take a comprehensive, multifaceted approach that considers not just what is wrong with the system but also what is working, and also what has worked and not worked in other states," he said. "That means we need to bring everyone together -- patients, providers, policy experts, insurance carriers, facilities and state agencies -- and find a way forward."

McCall also said the working group will look at all aspects of health care, not just Medicaid expansion.

Speaker Pro Tem Greg Treat said the working group will give the Legislature the chance to improve health outcomes in Oklahoma.

"We can and must do better as a state to improve our health care outcomes," he said. "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."

The working group will begin meeting in August, but no specific start date has been set. The meetings will be open to the public.

As the group begins to meet, supporters of Medicaid expansion will try to collect 178,000 signatures to put an initiative petition for expanded coverage on the ballot in 2020. They will have a 90-day window that starts Wednesday and ends in late October to gather signatures.

If successful, the initiative petition would effectively go around state lawmakers to bring the question of Medicaid expansion to the public.

McCortney said the goal of the working group is to formulate the best health care plan possible and then implement it before voters get a say on the state question.

"The ballot initiative will put Obamacare straight into our constitution so what this working group is going to do is to create a plan that is much better for the state of Oklahoma and once we get that done, we're going to need the people of Oklahoma to turn down the ballot initiative," he said.

Because the state question would amend Oklahoma's constitution to expand Medicaid "to certain low-income adults between the ages of 18 and 65 whose income does not exceed 133 percent of the federal poverty level," it would supersede any legislative actions if passed.

Oklahoma's top elected officials do not support the initiative petition, but have indicated support for applying for a federal waiver to craft an individualized Medicaid expansion plan for Oklahoma.

Many conservative-leaning states have expanded Medicaid through a waiver that allows the state to implement work requirements for some of the Medicaid population or charge enrollees nominal fees toward their premium.

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