With the threat of Medicaid expansion looming, Oklahoma lawmakers announced Monday that they’re forming a bipartisan working group to develop their own plan to increase health care and insurance coverage.

House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said in a statement that the health care group would bring everyone together — patients, policy experts, providers, insurers, medical facilities and state officials.

“Health care is a very complex issue, and there is no cookie-cutter approach that is going to drive down costs, improve care and increase access,” McCall said. “It is going to take a comprehensive, multifaceted approach that considers not just what is wrong with the system, but also what is working, and also what has worked and not worked in other states.”

He said the discussion must “include everything, not just Medicaid expansion.”

The announcement comes as a citizen-led ballot initiative plans to start collecting signatures Wednesday in an effort to get Medicaid expansion before voters on an upcoming ballot. The group’s effort would expand coverage to nearly 200,000 low-income Oklahomans and bring billions in federal health care dollars back to the state.

Amber England, a spokeswoman for Oklahomans Decide Healthcare and Yes on 802, said the coalition is optimistic to see what comes out of the working group. She said she’s grateful that there seems to be a “greater sense of urgency” to tackle the issue.

Amber England, a spokeswoman for Oklahomans Decide Healthcare and Yes on 802, said the coalition is optimistic to see what comes out of the working group. She said she’s grateful that there seems to be a “greater sense of urgency” to tackle the issue.

“The Legislature has had almost a decade to come up with a plan that would expand Medicaid and cover almost 200,000 more Oklahomans,” she said. “They haven’t been able to come up with a plan yet.”

Her group will continue to pursue their measure until there’s a plan signed into law.

“It will not distract us from actually providing Oklahomans a chance to decide for themselves,” England said. “I think you’ve seen in the past that the Legislature has punted on many of these issues and hasn’t been able to come up with a compromise.”

The group has until Oct. 28 to collect 178,000 signatures, she said.

About OrionNet Systems

OrionNet is an Oklahoma small business founded in 2001. OrionNet has designed, developed and supported applications created both for the client-server and web environments, as well as developing, marketing and supporting a commercial application for the counseling centers industry.

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