Insure Oklahoma Extended for Another Year

The federal government will continue for another year to fund an Oklahoma program that uses a combination of state tobacco tax revenue and federal Medicaid money to help provide health insurance coverage for nearly 20,000 low-income Oklahoma workers.

Gov. Mary Fallin announced on Dec. 2 that a one-year extension has been approved by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for the Insure Oklahoma program. The extension through Dec. 31, 2017, is the fourth extension granted by the federal government.

About 4,000 Oklahoma businesses and nearly 20,000 individuals currently participate in the program, which was created by the Legislature in 2005.

Fallin rejected an expansion of Medicaid offered under the federal health care law that would have provided coverage to about 144,000 low-income Oklahomans.