OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Gov. Mary Fallin's decision to reject a Medicaid expansion for roughly 200,000 low-income, uninsured Oklahomans has left health officials scrambling to come up with alternative ways to make health care available to this population.
Although no concrete proposals have been developed, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority on Thursday approved a $500,000 contract with Utah-based health consultant Leavitt Partners to develop ways to target the nearly 20 percent of Oklahoma's population that have no health insurance.
The governor has said she supports an "Oklahoma-based solution" to address the problem of Oklahoma's uninsured, and her Secretary of Health Terry Cline says he expects to work with Leavitt Partners and other health industry stakeholders to focus on improving the health of Oklahomans rather than just expanding coverage.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.