The economic importance of a robust health-care sector and the need for the state to accept federal money to expand its Insure Oklahoma program were at the forefront of a Tulsa Regional Chamber summit Tuesday.
The Tulsa Regional Summit on Health Care, held at Tulsa Community College’s Center for Creativity downtown, featured a panel of representatives from area hospitals, the Legislature and businesses.
“Oklahoma is in a health-care crisis, both from an industry standpoint and a larger economic standpoint,” said Justin McLaughlin, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Tulsa Regional Chamber. “The status quo will not work. … Something must be done to right the ship.”
Health care is the largest private industry in the state, employing 9 percent of Oklahomans and generating 10.1 percent of the state’s income, and is one of the fastest growing industries, said Kevin Gross, president and CEO of Hillcrest HealthCare System.
People are also reading…
He added the state’s labor force participation rate is about 65 percent, which means a number of working-age adults are not working and not looking for work, and likely are uninsured and in poor health.
“To the extent that we can deal with the uninsured and our health outcomes, we’re going to see increased productivity for businesses,” Gross said.
Meanwhile, 63 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties are federally designated as primary care shortage areas, and the state ranks 45th for physicians per capita.
A lack of physicians is a major factor in the state’s poor performance in health rankings, and the large number of uninsured Oklahomans is driving up the cost of health care across the state, Gross said.
The state ranks fifth in the nation in the number of uninsured residents, with nearly 600,000. Not only has the state refused to accept federal funds that would be used to expand Medicaid, but it has also had to make additional funding cuts because of budget shortfalls.
Cuts to Medicaid and Medicare are expected to reach $5 billion statewide by 2023.
Federal money for states to expand Medicaid is a component of the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare.
Craig Jones, president of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, said traditional expansion of Medicaid is not an option because of state leaders’ political and ideological beliefs, but accepting federal funds to expand Insure Oklahoma could work, he said.
Accepting federal funds to expand coverage would bring $8.5 billion into the state over 10 years, Jones said.
“When you infuse those dollars into the economy, it has a rippling effect,” including the creation of 24,000 jobs over time, he said.
“We have this perfect storm upon us, and I think this calls for bold leadership in embracing this challenge. We cannot kick this down the road any further,” Jones said. “We all have to band together to make this happen.”
A presentation from the Arkansas Hospital Association illustrated how a public-private partnership can be implemented to lower the number of uninsured people in a state.
Instead of expanding Medicaid, that state created the Arkansas Private Plan, which is similar to Insure Oklahoma. That state plan might be expanded using federal funding.
Through the Arkansas Private Plan, eligible individuals — those age 19-65 making 138 percent or less of the federal poverty level — have commercial coverage purchased for them through the marketplace.
“We did not expand Medicaid in the traditional way because it was not feasible,” said Bo Ryall, president and CEO of the Arkansas Hospital Association. “The state Legislature was not going to pass that piece of legislation.”
The coverage is funded 100 percent through federal funds that would have been used to fund Medicaid expansion.
The private option covers 200,000 and has helped stabilize Arkansas’ marketplace insurance, keeping rates down, Ryall added.
The Arkansas Private Plan is budget neutral and has resulted in an $83 million positive impact on the state’s budget.
Hospitals have seen a decrease of $149 million worth of uncompensated care, a 48.7 percent reduction in uninsured inpatient admissions and a 38.8 percent reduction in uninsured patients in emergency rooms.
“We’ve been able to keep hospitals open that we thought were in the balance of closing,” Ryall said.
