OCPA column: Starting a bonfire with your money

Starting a bonfire with your money By Jonathan Small Do you think the problem with state government is agencies are too small and inexpensive? Perhaps Republicans in the Oklahoma House of Representatives do, because they’ve voted to increase the number of state employees by more than 1,000 and dramatically boost the cost of Medicaid expansion. Due to passage of an initiative petition, Oklahoma’s Medicaid program will add hundreds of thousands of able-bodied adults to the rolls starting in July, costing anywhere from $164 million to $374 million based on estimates. But now House Republicans have voted to further boost the added cost by up to another $277 million per year. That should leave all citizens shaking their heads—especially since another option exists. Gov. Kevin Stitt has called for contracting with private managed care companies that would be paid a fee to oversee implementation of Medicaid benefits. Those companies would direct patients to preventative care and early treatment, which costs less, ultimately reducing expensive hospitalizations. If costs exceed what the private companies are paid, the private company pays the difference, protecting Oklahoma taxpayers from price shocks. But House Republicans have voted to instead have the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) handle cost-control internally. If the OHCA doesn’t control costs, there are no financial penalties for failure. In fact, the agency would probably ask for more funding. But that’s not the worst of it. Read more » by Jamison Faught - May 04, 2021 at 08:28AM

OCPA column: Starting a bonfire with your money Click the title to read the entire article at Muskogee Politico