Nearly 100,000 Oklahomans and counting (as of this writing) will be able to access life-changing health care this fall, thanks to Oklahoma finally moving
Dorman: A progress review as legislative session winds down By: Joe Dorman Guest Columnist May 19, 2021
Joe Dorman
The leadership at the Oklahoma Capitol last week reached an agreement on the fiscal year 2022 budget. In this proposal, key elements of this $8.3 billion spending package:
• Increases in common education funding by $171.8 million, or 6%, to a record high of $3.2 billion, triggering class size reductions in kindergarten and first grade.
• Boosts for the Rainy Day Fund (the state savings account) from less than $300 million today to more than $1 billion – approaching the high-water mark state reserves held before the pandemic began.
• Reduces the top personal income tax rate from 5% to 4.75% and the corporate income tax rate from 6% to 4%, placing both in the top 10 for lowest rates in the country of states that levy those types of taxes.
Patti Davis
OKLAHOMA CITY â Despite an influx of hundreds of millions of federal dollars earmarked to help pay for Medicaid expansion, lawmakers are proposing increasing fees paid by hospitals with the money to be used for the same purpose.
âWhile weâre not opposed to doing our part to increase access to care, we are disappointed that the Legislature chose not to use the hospital fee as a backstop considering that we have federal funds available for the next eight quarters,â said Patti Davis, president of Oklahoma Hospital Association.
She said the stateâs hospitals still are in ârecovery modeâ from the pandemic, and they would prefer legislators would first use the hundreds of millions in additional federal funding before increasing their assessment rate.
TRANSCRIPT:
Dick Pryor: This is Capitol Insider, your weekly look inside Oklahoma politics, policy and government. I m Dick Pryor with eCapitol news director, Shawn Ashley. It s mid-May, which means it s time to talk seriously about the state budget, with just a couple of weeks left in the session. And right on cue, Governor Stitt and legislative leaders announced a budget agreement on Thursday. Shawn, how did this year s budget come together?
Shawn Ashley: Well, you know, House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat emphasized Thursday that this was not something put together in just a few days. Throughout session we ve heard talk and reported on the House desire to put more money in the common education. We saw McCall advance his individual and corporate income tax reduction proposals. And the Senate talked about limiting spending growth, particularly avoiding using one time money for ongoing programs. And the governor talked about the opportunity to save
Lawmakers: Managed care plan complicates Medicaid funding By: Trevor Brown Oklahoma Watch February 22, 2021
With Oklahoma’s 2021 legislative session underway, lawmakers and the governor will need to simultaneously weigh funding options for an expanding state Medicaid program along with pros and cons of revamping the system that lower-income Oklahomans depend on for health care coverage. (Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash)
More than half a year after voters approved a state question that will require Oklahoma to offer health care coverage to more than 200,000 low-income adults, state officials are still unsure how they’ll pay for it.
The passage of State Question 802 last June started a countdown for the state to start enrolling newly eligible Oklahomans in the state’s Medicaid program, known as SoonerCare, by July 1.