Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, says there's growing support in his Republican caucus for a plan to rebalance Oklahoma's Medicaid population to trigger an infusion of federal funding.
“And again, it comes down to how do we pay for our share of state dollars?” Bingman said.
He told reporters Thursday the potential for 25 percent cuts to Medicaid providers could significantly affect Oklahoma's health care system.
“That would be devastating for doctors that provide these services to Medicaid patients in hospitals,’ Bingman said. “It affects everyone in rural Oklahoma as well as your suburban and big city hospitals."
Both Bingman and House Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, say there is no agreement on how to come up with the estimated $100 million dollars needed for the plan amid a $1.3 billion hole in next year's budget.
A group representing Oklahoma's hospitals and nursing homes urged lawmakers Thursday to consider a $1.50 per-pack tax increase on cigarettes to fund the plan, eCapitol’s Shawn Ashley reports:
"Over the past several years, Medicaid rate cuts, reductions in provider fees and unfunded mandates added at the federal and state level have brought Oklahoma's health care system to the brink of a crisis. We are writing today to inform you that any further reductions in funding will trigger that crisis in earnest, with disastrous repercussions for our most vulnerable populations, not to mention our economy," Oklahoma Hospital Association President Craig Jones and Oklahoma Association of Health Care Providers President Tandie Hastings wrote Thursday in a letter to lawmakers. As a result of anticipated cuts in fiscal year 2017, which begins July 1, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority is considering a series provider cuts. Those cuts, Jones and Hastings said in the letter, "…would send Oklahoma's health care system into an irreversible freefall with mass closures of medical facilities being a certainty." Public hearings on those proposals and a plan to rebalance the system began Thursday. [Editor's Note: See related story, OHCA holds public meeting regarding Medicaid Rebalancing Act] "We believe there is a moral imperative to prevent this collapse of our health care infrastructure and we are urging you to support a responsible and forward-thinking revenue collection measure that can help avert catastrophe: The adoption of a $1.50 per pack increase to the cigarette tax and the use of those tax revenues to avoid devastating cuts in health care," wrote Jones and Hastings. According to the pair, the increase would have a two-fold impact. First, it would reduce consumption of cigarettes by 26 million packs per year. Second, it would generate an estimated $182 million annually in new revenue that could be dedicated to health care.
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