Last summer I met Michele Eccleson, a cancer survivor with scoliosis and a heart condition, on the steps of the Oklahoma State Capitol. She told me about the desperate years she lived without health insurance. Alongside hundreds of community leaders and healthcare professionals, Michele’s message to lawmakers that day was clear and urgent: We must expand Medicaid to protect our most vulnerable neighbors. State Question 802 will give voters
State Question 802 will give voters a chance to do right by people like Michele. The initiative would provide life-saving care to more than 200,000 Oklahomans who need it desperately. From improving health outcomes and providing relief for rural hospitals, to addressing the state’s addiction crisis and improving access to mental healthcare, expanding Medicaid is the right thing to do — and SQ 802 is the right way to do it.
Expanding Medicaid through SQ 802 would help working parents whose employers don’t offer health insurance.
It would also protect seniors nearing retirement age who have lost their coverage. For people who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to afford the rising cost of care on the insurance exchange, expansion would mean the end of living on the edge between poverty and a bad diagnosis.
Oklahoma has the second-highest uninsured rate in the country, leaving more than 600,000 of our neighbors, friends and loved ones at risk. This gap affects more than our health outcomes. It touches every part of our lives and economy. At least seven rural hospitals have shuttered over the last 10 years in Oklahoma, and more are at risk of following suit. Meanwhile, we continue paying into the federal Medicaid program without receiving the benefits that would help keep those doors open.
There is currently a $9-to-$1 match on traditional Medicaid expansion, meaning the federal government would pay the lion’s share of funding on every dollar spent to provide essential care to our people. Expanding Medicaid at home would bring more than a billion of our dollars back to Oklahoma communities like Madill and Kingston each year, instead of routing that money to New York, California, or any of the other 37 states currently accepting these funds. After promising an alternative to
After promising an alternative to traditional expansion, Gov. Kevin Stitt announced his administration would allow block grants to fund limited new health spending. Under this plan, lawmakers — not doctors — would decide who does and doesn’t qualify for care. Block granting Medicaid would burden a proven universal program with red tape, endanger more than 500,000 children who rely on SoonerCare and leave too many in the position of choosing between life-saving care and putting food on the table.
Expanding Medicaid through SQ 802 is our chance to make “Top 10 State” more than a marketing slogan. When the question appears on the ballot this year, I hope you’ll join me in voting yes. Let’s bring our money home and help people in Oklahoma.
Jezy (J.J.) Gray is a writer and editor living in Oklahoma City. He graduated from Madill High School in 2005.