Medicaid expansion campaign kicks off with ads, tour
The drive to expand Medicaid in Oklahoma kicked off this week with a major television advertising campaign and a tour of Oklahoma towns by supporters of the June 30 ballot question.
The first ad, running statewide, features health care providers and the head of the Oklahoma Hospital Association stressing the importance of health insurance for people and for rural hospitals.
“We can help those hardworking Oklahomans who don't have health insurance ,” Patti Davis, OH A president, says in the ad.
Meanwhile, supporters visited Altus, Lawton, Duncan and other towns on Tuesday to promote the question and hand out campaign materials.
State Question 802 would expand Medicaid, a public health insurance program funded by federal and state governments, to an estimated 200,000 more low-income Oklahomans.
If approved, the question would become part of the Oklahoma Constitution, protecting it from changes by the state Legislature.
According to a poll in March by Amber Integrated, of Oklahoma City, 62% of likely voters in Oklahoma
supported the question, and only 18% opposed it; the remainder was undecided.
The poll showed that 84% of likely Democratic voters supported the question, along with 76% of Independents. Among likely Republican voters, support was 43% and opposition was 28%.
That poll was taken before the novel corona virus exacted a heavy toll on residents' physical and financial health. Tens of thousands of Oklahomans have lost their jobs, and many have lost health insurance along with employment.
There were about 822,000 Oklahomans enrolled in Sooner Care, the state' s Medicaid program, in April, according to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. That included more than 16,000 new enrollees, according to the agency.
One of 14 states
Medicaid expansion was part of the Affordable Care Act and was mandatory until a U.S. Supreme Court ruling gave states the option of raising the income level for eligibility.
Oklahoma is one of 14 states that has not expanded the program.
Republican lawmakers and former Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, opposed expansion even when the federal government was paying 100% of the cost.
States must now pay 10% of the cost to insure the expansion population. Oklahoma's share is expected to be about $ 150 million per year, and the federal government will pay an estimated $1 billion annually for the newly insured.
Gov. Kevin Stitt developed his own expansion plan that would have included work requirements and premiums paid by some recipients. The Legislature approved Stitt's plan, but the governor last week vetoed the funding mechanism, leaving lawmakers scratching their heads and the plan in limbo.
Should it pass and become part of the state constitution next month, State Question 802 would require legislative leaders and the governor to come up with a funding source.
The question easily qualified for a statewide vote after a record 313,677 signatures were gathered on petitions last year.
The petition drive and the current campaign have been funded by a group called Oklahoma Decides, which was organized as a 501(c)(4), or “social welfare” organization, under the federal tax code.
Those types of tax-exempt organizations are often referred to as dark money groups because they are not required to disclose their donors.
Amber England, the lead organizer of the Yes on 802 campaign, declined to respond to questions on Tuesday about how much the group spent on the ads and who was financing them.
The group had not filed any financial reports with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission by the close of business on Wednesday.
She also declined to say whether t he group would ever name its donors.
Contracts posted this week showed the group is spending about $65,000 at two Oklahoma City television stations to air the ad for one week; records at other Oklahoma City and Tulsa stations were not yet available.
Davis, the president of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, said her group is among those funding the effort.
“We' ve never shied away from our support for expanding Medicaid in Oklahoma and are proud to be a part of the financial support of State Question 802,” Davis said in a statement to The Oklahoman.
“Just like every other candidate and issue committee, the 802 campaign' s timely filed ethics report will reflect our financial commitment to make sure we bring home more than $1 billion of our tax dollars from Washington, D. C ., every single year and provide nearly 200,000 Oklahomans with access to life saving health care.”
It is not clear whether any organized op po siti on, backed with money, will emerge in the next few weeks to challenge the state question.
Similar questions have been approved by voters in recent years in GOP-dominated states like Utah and Idaho, though legislators in those states have limited the benefits.