Over the objections of the state legislature and state supreme court, the Stitt administration continues to push a plan that would give taxpayer money to insurance companies.
Following the passage of the Medicaid expansion ballot initiative in 2020, Stitt devised a plan to privatize Medicaid and send billions of tax dollars to insurance companies like United Healthcare, which is based in Minnesota. The Oklahoma Healthcare Authority Board approved more than $2 billion and contracts were awarded. The plan was only halted when the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional after the state was sued by the state medical association and other leading health care groups.
Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority’s board voted 4-3 to adopt emergency rules in November 2021 that could open the door for the agency to once again push taxpayer dollars to private insurance companies. The board voted to table the same rules in an August meeting. About a week later, Stitt dismissed the only two doctors who sit on the medical board following their votes to table the matter given the Supreme Court’s ruling. Stitt’s new appointees voted to approve the rules in November.
Sources:
- Oklahoma chooses vendors for $2 billion program partially privatizing Medicaid, The Frontier, 1/29/21
- Managed care push brings a flow of campaign cash and lobbying that is likely to continue, The Frontier, 2/8/21
- Oklahoma Supreme Court strikes down managed care for Medicaid, Oklahoman, 6/1/21
- Oklahoma Health Care Authority board passes rules that some say could reopen door for managed care, Oklahoman, 11/18/21