yahoo.com/news/surprising-turnabout-oklahoma-eyes-medicaid-expansion-051849585--politics.html
>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Despite bitter resistance in OK for years to President Obama's health care overhaul, Republican leaders in this conservative state are now confronting something that alarms them even more: a huge $1.3B hole in the budget that threatens to do widespread damage to the state's health care system.
>So, in what would be the grandest about-face among rightward leaning states, OK is now moving toward a plan to expand its Medicaid program to bring in billions of federal dollars from Obama's new health care system. What's more, GOP leaders are considering a tax hike to cover the state's cost share.
>"We're to the point where the provider rates are going to be cut so much that providers won't be able to survive, particularly the nursing homes," said Republican state Rep. Doug Cox, referring to possible cuts in state funds for indigent care that could cause some hospitals and nursing homes to close.
>Despite furious opposition by conservative groups, (R) Gov. Mary Fallin and some GOP legislative leaders are pushing the plan, and support appears to be growing in the overwhelmingly Republican Legislature. Details have not been ironed out but the proposal is based on an Indiana program that received federal approval.
>Obama called on states to expand their Medicaid insurance for low-income residents as part of his 2014 health overhaul designed to shrink the population of uninsured Americans. Most Democratic-led states did so, along with a handful of GOP states. But in OK, even with 20% of its population on Medicaid, it's been no way, no how.
>Until now.
>A bust in the oil patch has decimated state revenues, compounded by years of income tax cuts and growing corporate subsidies intended to make the state more business-friendly. OK's Medicaid agency warned doctors and other health care providers of cuts of up to 25% in what the state pays under Medicaid.
LOL
>>74237485
>Under the proposal, which would be funded in part with a $1.50-per-pack tax on cigarettes, Oklahoma would shift 175,000 people from its Medicaid rolls onto the federal health exchange created by the Affordable Care Act. That would make room for adding to Medicaid roughly the same number of working poor who are currently uninsured. Participants would pay nominal premiums and co-pays.
>The move, by increasing the number of uninsured people covered, would allow the state to tap into the extra money offered under the federal law. Beginning in 2017, the federal government would cover 95 percent of the state's Medicaid costs, decreasing to 90 percent of the share in 2020.
>Fallin, a former congresswoman who voted against Obama's health plan when it came before the House, argues that the plan doesn't amount to expanding Medicaid because the program's rolls don't grow. Rather, she said, it "transitions 175,000 Medicaid enrollees to the private insurance market."
>No matter what state leaders call it, conservative groups aren't happy about the idea of more government health spending. "They can call it Medicaid rebalancing, but there's only one federal program that offers a 9-to-1 federal match, and that's Obamacare," said Johnathan Small, president of Oklahoma Council on Public Affairs, a free-market think-tank that opposes higher taxes. The opponents have called for covering health costs by cutting spending for less essential programs.
>Americans for Prosperity, another conservative think-tank backed by the billionaire philanthropist Koch brothers, David and Charles, also has launched a campaign against the proposal and is hosting a "NobamaCare" event at the state Capitol to voice their opposition.
IT'S OVER. When even OKLAHOMA is forced to accept federal funding for health care, Conservative have well and truly lost.
>>74237485
>conservative oil state runs out of money
who woulda thunk
>>74237485
>>74237521
>tfw reading this as I sit in Oklahoma
Just obamacare my shit up
>>74237485
They couldn't hold out for another year for Obamacare to collapse?
They needed to diversify
>>74237701
Same
>>74237521
>forced to accept federal funding for health care
how horrible
>>74237485
Let the old and poor starve to death; I couldn't care less. Let me opt the fuck out.
>>74237833
What could they have done tho? I'm so confused. I thought Medicare was for old people. I also don't see how this is a new problem.
>>74237913
How's that debt crisis going for you guys anyway? Is it affecting your local arguments over whether to finally become a state or not?
>>74238077
Medicaid is for children/young adults. You can get free dental care or healthcare.
>>74238124
shit hasn't hit the fan yet, few more months until the ugly shit happens
no, the debt has nothing to do with statehood
Also the cigarethe tax is retarded.. They'll just buy them from Elizabeth warrens NDN relatives.
>>74238077
>I'm so confused. I thought Medicare was for old people.
Medicare is for old people.
Medicaid, which is what Obamacare expanded, is for the indigent.
What happens though is that a lot of old people have no savings or very little which are then confiscated by the nursing homes along with their Social Security checks as reimbursement for their care and lodging so they become poor enough to qualify for both medicare and medicaid. Because of this self-selection bias, most nursing homes are reliant on medicaid funding to stay solvent.
>>74237485
Dat asssssss
>>74238316
What cracks me up about that is when I was an insurance salesman focusing on elederly medicare supplement insurance (ALWAYS go with Plan F when you hit open enrollment, btw), everyone had the mentality of "Fuck it, the government can pay for me."
I can understand not wanting to pay for your old age. I have no intention of doing so, for example. My solution to this is to work until I no longer can, and then to eat a bullet. Already paid for my retirement plan in full. If you aren't willing to fund your own retirement, then don't retire.
>>74238548
>"Work until I no longer can, and then eat a bullet"
If you kill yourself how will you be around in old age to tell your kids when they've fucked up?
>>74238751
If they haven't learned when they've fucked up by the time I'm in my 70's, then I've failed at my job, and their genetic line should end.
>>74238857
What if you get injured by outside forces, like a drunk dumbass crashing into you and taking your legs or some shit? What then?
>>74238316
Thank you for that explanation. Does Oklahoma get any federal money for Medicaid? Could the state Medicaid just changed the guidelines on who qualifies thus forcing those people to purchase public insurance? Wouldn't that be essentially the same thing?
>>74239010
Then I do what I can until the children are out of the house, and eat a bullet, presuming my death and dismemberment insurance doesn't pay out.
