YOUR VIEWS
Medicaid expansion benefit
“Arkansas effort holds lessons for OK officials” (Our Views, April 25) omits the fact that health insurance is a lot more expensive in Oklahoma than Arkansas. From 2016-2017, the second-lowest-cost Silver plan under the Affordable Care Act increased from $310 to $314 per month (before the tax credit) in Little Rock, an increase of 1 percent. During that same period, this plan increased from $295 to $493 per month in Oklahoma City, an increase of 67 percent. Why?
There are at least two major factors. First, Arkansas managed to keep insurer participation relatively steady while Oklahoma held on to only one carrier, Blue Cross/Blue Shield. (In 2015, there were four carriers in Oklahoma). Second, health insurance is designed so the premiums of the many help pay for the major health expenses of the few. The larger the insurance pool, the easier it is to predict risk and spread the costs.
People who don’t have insurance still access health care services. In 2016, the Oklahoma Hospital Association estimated that Oklahoma hospitals incurred over $550 million in uncompensated care for services provided to the uninsured. Some of that cost is passed on to insured Oklahomans in the form of higher premiums.
It’s true that Medicaid expansion has been expensive for states. However, there is a benefit, shared by all, to having higher participation in health insurance markets. That benefit ought to be included as Oklahoma and other states assess how best to manage their health care markets.
Tom Adelson, Tulsa Adelson is a former Democratic state senator and former Oklahoma Secretary of Health.
No more property taxes
Cities accessing the property tax to acquire more revenue? No, I do not think so! The cities are governed by city councils that do not represent the people of this state in the numbers that the Legislature does. Nowhere does it say that cities can levy property tax. That is purely a prerogative of the Legislature. For cities to access property tax given to the counties and state, there would have to be an increase in property taxes and a revision of the law to allow that addition of property tax. Besides, how are they going to enforce the payment of that property tax? Threaten you with seizure of your property by the county
sheriff and sell it at auction if not paid within three years as the state does?
I am going to vote against any ability of a city to assess property tax. And I will vote against any lowering of the number of legislators required to raise any revenue whatsoever. There are plenty of other places to raise revenue. How about alcohol consumption? Twenty cents per container for beer. Sixty cents per container for whiskey, bourbon, vodka and other hard liquors? Forty cents per container for wines?
Andre Snodgrass, Norman
Fantastic news
Regarding “State employment rate lowest since 2008” (Business, April 21): The low unemployment rate is fantastic news. After the rate reached 4.9 percent in May 2016 and only began to decrease in October 2016, dropping all the way to 4 percent is almost cause for rejoicing. Better news in this article was the duration of unemployment. With the economy growing and a shortage of skilled labor, it would appear discouraged workers are finding more suitable employment in a shorter amount of time. Hopefully this is the case and not simply workers choosing underemployment to keep their households afloat.
Jennifer Heim, Guthrie
GPT no big deal
Crude oil is a global commodity with its price controlled by an unpredictable worldwide economic and political climate. When an Oklahoma operator evaluates the economic hurdles necessary to justify drilling, gross production tax is not a major consideration, whether it be 2 percent or 7 percent. The decision is based on a projection of risk-weighted production to an estimate of future oil price. If the project will fly under what is viewed as a pessimistic price forecast, it can move forward. As oil price volatility is extreme (up to 5 percent or even 10 percent in a day), the GPT rate becomes a roundoff error. This allows a 5 percent GPT sacrifice given by the state to the industry to evaporate literally overnight.
Dan Boyd, Norman