SQ 802 supporters travel to 21 cities to promote yes vote on Medicaid expansion; release county impact data

Posted on: 5/29/20

At the Duncan SQ 802 Community Check-In are staff members from Duncan Regional Hospital, left to right: Roger Neal, VP/COO; Cyndi Crook, director of community relations; Jay Johnson, president & CEO; and Richard Gillespie, president, Jefferson County Hospital, Waurika.

Brent Smith, CEO, Comanche County Memorial Hospital, Lawton, greets the SQ 802 van in Lawton.

SQ 802, Medicaid expansion, will be voted on at the statewide primary election on June 30. To kick off the final phase of the campaign, supporters of SQ 802 stopped in 21 cities on a four-day, 1,400-mile Community Check-in. Local supporters greeted the 802 van to pick-up yard signs, bumper stickers and posters sporting the slogan “Save our Rural Hospitals.” The campaign also released important new county economic impact data of Medicaid expansion.

After each “check-in,” the campaign issued a press release quoting a hospital CEO or physician showing the economic benefit of expanding Medicaid for the county just visited. According to an economic study commissioned by the OHA, the passage of State Question 802 would bring home more than a billion of Oklahomans’ tax dollars every year from Washington, D.C., money that’s currently going to 36 other states that have already expanded Medicaid. To view the study, click here.

Beyond delivering health care to nearly 200,000 Oklahomans, the return of those funds would create an additional 27,280 new jobs, generate $15.6 billion in new economic activity, and add a projected $6.7 billion in labor income in the first five years of Medicaid expansion following the passage of State Question 802. It also would generate almost half a billion dollars in new state and local tax revenues, the report finds.

If passed, the ballot measure would ensure nearly 200,000 Oklahomans receive access to life-saving health care. Under the proposal, single adults making less than $17,236 annually and families of four earning less than $35,535 annually would qualify.

For more information on State Question 802, voters can click here. To download a full copy of the economic impact report, visit the Oklahoma Hospital Association’s website. (Lynne White)