Ensuring Access to Medicaid Act passes House Appropriations unanimously

Posted on: 2/19/21

The third week of session began with a historic snow storm that slowed, but did not stop the Legislature from doing its work. HB 1091 by Rep. Bush and Sen. Kidd, an OHA request bill, passed the House Appropriations and Budget Committee with a vote of 31 aye to 0 nay. The bill creates the Ensuring Access to Medicaid Act, which establishes protections for patients, providers and facilities in a commercial managed care environment. Patients, providers and facilities that make up Oklahoma’s safety net program deserve statutory protections, rather than simply relying on policies and contracts created arbitrarily by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. 

“If the state moves forward with a managed care model for Medicaid, we must ensure Oklahomans still have access to quality health care,” Rep. Bush said. “This bill would put in statute contract provisions the Health Care Authority would have to establish to protect the rights of qualifying participants.”

The bill must be heard and off the House floor by March 11. To read more about HB 1091, click here.  

As expected, many bills were held over to next week due to the weather. However, the telehealth parity bill, SB 674 by Sen. McCortney, passed Senate Retirement and Insurance on Thursday with its title stricken. This bill is supported by a coalition, including OHA, that seeks to achieve payment parity in both mental health and medical services from commercial insurance in Oklahoma. 

With one week left in the committee schedule, we are working to ensure our other OHA priority bills, such as SB 580 by Sen. Garvin on public trust hospital purchasing limits and HB 2161 by Rep. Marcus that creates the Small Rural Hospital Survival Act, receive a hearing in committee.  

To review our OHA 2021 Legislative Program, click here. (Sandra Harrison, Scott Tohlen)