House Democrats have called for reconsideration of Medicaid expansion using money available from the Affordable Care Act. If Republican leaders won’t allow the measure to be considered, the Democrats are threatening to mount an initiative petition campaign, as has been successful in GOP-controlled Idaho, Nebraska and Utah.

Here’s the fiscal reality of Medicaid expansion: Oklahomans have been paying the taxes to support it for years now, they just haven’t been getting anything in return, because the Legislature has stubbornly refused money offered at 9-to-1 match. The idea that the money would go away once Barack Obama left the White House is now proven wrong.

Even Gov. Mary Fallin came around on the issue, eventually advocating during her second term for bringing the money into the state through the popular and successful Insure Oklahoma program. It was a good plan, and it still is.

Every Oklahoman suffers as a result of the state’s refusal to accept the funding. Working poor people are denied health care coverage. They get sick or injured anyway and end up in emergency rooms, where the costs of their treatment are either absorbed by hospitals (some of which are now teetering financially) or passed on to insured patients.

It’s an unsustainable business model that clogs our emergency rooms, increases the cost of insurance and leaves us with an unhealthy work force.

Meanwhile, other states have received the economic stimulus of millions in federal Medicaid funding. Oklahoma does not.

Gov. Kevin Stitt has said he isn’t interested in pursuing the Medicaid expansion. His promise to bring business savvy into the governor’s office should lead him to reconsider that position.

With the threat of an initiative petition hanging, his choice may be to mold a Medicaid program that he can be comfortable with or having one imposed on him by the voters.