Oklahoma justices OK Medicaid plan

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s highest court on Tuesday rejected a legal effort to block a plan for a public vote on whether to expand Medicaid to tens of thousands of poor residents.

Just hours after hearing oral arguments in the case, the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected the challenge spearheaded by a conservative think tank that has long opposed making the federally funded health insurance program available to more people.

The court’s decision authorized supporters to proceed with gathering the nearly 178,000 signatures they will need to get the question on the ballot.

The plan was challenged by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. The think tank argued that the proposed ballot language doesn’t accurately describe what the measure does.

Supporters of Medicaid expansion include doctors, hospitals, business and faith leaders, and most Democrats in the Legislature, who say the expansion will infuse close to $1 billion in federal funding into the state’s health care system each year, helping provide medical coverage to low-income Oklahomans who don’t receive health insurance through work or who can’t afford it.

Opponents, including Gov. Kevin Stitt and many Republicans, say the cost to the state, even with a 9-to-1 federal match, is a significant investment and raised concerns about what will happen if the state’s share must increase in future years.

About 786,000 Oklahomans, or 20 percent of the state’s population, currently are enrolled in Medicaid, and more than two-thirds of those enrolled are children.