Editorial: Insure Oklahoma solution gives state breathing room to work on a broader solution
By World's Editorials Writers on Sep 7, 2013, at 2:27 AM Updated on 9/07/13 at 3:59 AM
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin speaks to the media before the start of a special session of the Legislature. Fallin announced Friday that officials would extend Insure Oklahoma, a program that helps low-income Oklahomans with health insurance benefits. SUE OGROCKI / Associated Press
Editorials
The 6,300 employees at the American Airlines Maintenance Facility in Tulsa could use some certainty, but they're going to have to wait.
The loss of 12 lives, 13 counting the suspect, in the Navy shipyard shootings Monday is tragic. With each killing spree the natural reaction is to search for the motive or the psychological reason for such a horrific event.
The popular and effective Insure Oklahoma program has been saved - for now.
Gov. Mary Fallin announced Friday that state and federal officials reached an agreement to extend through 2014 the program that uses federal Medicaid funding, state tobacco tax money and employer and employee contributions to underwrite private insurance coverage for working poor Oklahomans.
Earlier this year, federal officials essentially killed the program when they withdrew Medicaid funding after Dec. 31.
That meant thousands of low-income Oklahomans who had been covered were going to be left uninsured.
Under the new deal, most of the people previously covered by Insure Oklahoma will continue to enjoy its benefits. Those who were covered by the program's Individual Plan and who earn more than 100 percent of the federal poverty level ($23,550 for a family for four) will be released from the Insure Oklahoma program, but will be eligible to get substantial federal subsidies for the purchase of private insurance through a health insurance exchange that is part of the Affordable Care Act.
Fallin said the extension of Insure Oklahoma is a "big win for Oklahoma," and we agree.
It means that for at least a year the anxieties of working poor Oklahomans who have enjoyed the program's benefits have been resolved.
For about 4,600 small businesses in the state it means their employee health insurance problems have been solved for 12 months.
For Oklahoma hospitals and physicians, the announcement means an important funding source for medical services won't be lost and the number of uninsured people showing up in emergency rooms won't be pushed up.
Of course, a broader solution to the uninsured problem is unresolved, but this announcement gives all the players a year's worth of breathing room to continue working on a solution that is acceptable to all involved.
Original Print Headline: Breathing room
Editorials
The 6,300 employees at the American Airlines Maintenance Facility in Tulsa could use some certainty, but they're going to have to wait.
The loss of 12 lives, 13 counting the suspect, in the Navy shipyard shootings Monday is tragic. With each killing spree the natural reaction is to search for the motive or the psychological reason for such a horrific event.
