Oklahoma uninsured rate still second-highest

Sep. 10--WASHINGTON -- Oklahoma's rate of residents without health insurance remained at 14.2% in 2018, the second highest rate of uninsured in the country, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Tuesday.

An estimated 548,000 Oklahomans lacked health insurance in 2018, up from an estimated 545,000 in 2017, the Census Bureau reported.

Only six states had a rate higher than 12%, according to the report. Of those, only Alaska has voted to expand Medicaid.

The Census Bureau has long collected the most detailed information on the number of Americans with health insurance, including public and private coverage. The report released Tuesday shows the first national increase in the uninsured rate since 2008. The rate rose about half a percentage point between 2017 and 2018, the new report states.

Supporters of Medicaid expansion in Oklahoma are gathering signatures on petitions to put the expansion on a statewide ballot in 2020. A state legislative committee is also examining ways to increase coverage. Oklahoma is one of 14 states that has not expanded Medicaid.

The Oklahoma Policy Institute estimates Medicaid expansion, which would raise the income threshold for eligibility for the state-federal health insurance program, would reduce the number of uninsured in the state by 200,000. Nearly 800,000 Oklahomans were enrolled in SoonerCare -- the state's Medicaid program -- in July.

"In general, the uninsured rate in states that expanded Medicaid eligibility prior to January 1, 2018, was lower than in states that did not expand eligibility," the Census Bureau report released Tuesday states. "In states that expanded Medicaid eligibility ... the uninsured rate in 2018 was 6.6 percent, compared with 12.4 percent in states that did not expand Medicaid eligibility."

House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said Tuesday that a goal of the legislative working group on health care is to reduce the ranks of the uninsured. That should come through creating more private jobs with health insurance and developing options for getting more federal money, Echols said.

"It's going to take compromise," he said, adding that middle ground should be found between complete Medicaid expansion and refusal to accept any more federal health care dollars.

Oklahoma's uninsured rate in 2018 was significantly down from 2008, when it was 18.7%. Though Oklahoma has not expanded Medicaid, as allowed by the Affordable Care Act, the law made private insurance more affordable for many Oklahomans who did not have private or public coverage. More than 150,000 Oklahomans bought private health insurance for 2019 through the federal exchange.

According to the Census report released Tuesday, 3.3% of Americans purchased health care coverage through exchanges, down from 3.5% in 2017.

In all last year, 67% of the covered population had private insurance, with the majority of those getting the coverage from employers.

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