Many votes in support seem to have come from Republicans,
independents and members of third parties.
Preliminary election results show that
Oklahoma voters may have approved State Question 802 — an Affordable Care Act
(ACA) Medicaid expansion measure.
The measure would amend the state constitution
to require state leaders to accept federal ACA Medicaid expansion funding.
The measure appeared on the ballot Tuesday. At
press time, the Oklahoma State Election Board was reporting 340,279 votes in
favor of the amendment measure, or 50.48% of all votes tallied, and 333,761
against.
Resources
·
A
health insurance group vice president’s thoughts about Medicaid expansion
politics are available here.
The ACA Medicaid expansion program provides
enough federal funding to cover 90% of the cost of making Medicaid available to
adults under 65 who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level, or $17,236
for an individual.
Caveats
In the preliminary results tally, State
Question 802 was leading by just 6,518 votes.
That tally did not include results for
“provisional ballots,” or ballots cast by people who faced questions about
their eligibility to vote, or about their eligibility to vote where they voted.
The election board said it expected to certify
that final results sometime between 5 p.m. Friday and by the end of the day on
July 7.
Even if the ballot measure succeeds, it’s not
clear what that would mean for Oklahoma’s Medicaid program.
In the past, legislative conflicts and court
fights have blocked, delayed or changed many state and federal health insurance
rules and programs.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, R-Okla., says he
wants to expand the state’s Medicaid program, but he has argued that using an
off-the-shelf approach would cost the state about $164 million per year and
would be too expensive. Stitt has been trying to win federal approval for “SoonerCare 2.0,” an alternative
approach that would include work requirements for many adult enrollees. The
proposal would also require some enrollees to pay premiums of up to $10 per
month for individuals and up to $15 per month for families.
The Vote
Whatever happens to State Question 802, the
preliminary Oklahoma results suggest that, in some states, the ACA Medicaid
program may have a significant amount of support from Republicans and
independents.
Voters voted on the State Question 802 as they
were participating in Republican and Democratic primaries.
The preliminary vote results show that a total
of 271,017 people cast votes in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary.
That means the number of votes in favor of
State Question 802 was 69,262 higher than the number of people who
participated in the Democratic primary, and that at least 10% of the votes
supporting Medicaid expansion came from Republicans, independents, members of
small parties, or Democrats who skipped voting in the Senate primary.
Oklahoma breaks out election results by type
of vote, and the type-of-vote breakout statistics may also have implications
for health policy watchers in the rest of the country.
Here’s a look at the type-of-vote results
breakout:
·
Voted
in person on election day: 245,227
for State Question 802 and 299,712 against (45% to 55%)
·
Voted
early, in person: 18,959 for and
15,528 against (55% to 45%)
·
Cast
absentee ballots: 76,094 for and
18,521 against (80% to 20%)
https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2020/07/01/oklahoma-voters-may-have-added-medicaid-expansion-to-state-constitution/?kw=Oklahoma%20Voters%20May%20Have%20Added%20Medicaid%20Expansion%20to%20State%20Constitution&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=lifehealthnewsflash&utm_content=20200701&utm_term=tadv
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