× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

After a long delay, Gov. Kevin Stitt has scheduled a statewide vote on State Question 802 for June 30.

If passed, the measure would add a requirement to the state Constitution mandating that it offer Medicaid coverage to qualifying working age people in Oklahoma no later than July 1, 2021.

The state has the second highest rate of uninsured residents in the nation. Medicaid expansion would cover an estimated 200,000 people in the state, perhaps more if the slumping economy increases the number of Oklahomans living in poverty.

The federal government would pay 90% of the cost of newly eligible Medicaid clients. Pre-coronavirus estimates put that at about $1 billion a year for the federal government.

Some studies have suggested that the state’s share of the cost could be more than matched by cost savings that expansion would bring to other state agencies and increased tax revenue produced by the huge federal investment in the state.

Even if that doesn’t prove true, the state can afford expansion. What it can’t afford is waiting any longer.

Medicaid expansion would give the state a stronger workforce, a more financially secure rural health care system and a healthier population.