Congressman Markwayne Mullin (OK-02) has introduced a bill that will help ensure Oklahomans have access to Medicaid programs in the future. Faced with a $1.3 billion budget shortfall in 2017, Oklahoma’s state legislature was faced with the possibility of cutting Medicaid funding by as much as 25 percent. The governor’s office and the Oklahoma state legislature reached a budget agreement that spares Medicaid from the substantial funding cut, and Mullin’s bill, the Preserving Access to Medicaid for Americans (PAMA) Act of 2016 will help ensure vulnerable Oklahomans have access to Medicaid in the future.

“When the Supreme Court struck down the provision of Obamacare that mandated Medicaid expansion, states were given the choice of taking federal money to expand their Medicaid programs. Oklahoma wisely chose to decline the expansion, so it wouldn’t take on increased burdens from the president’s failed health care law, but now our state is being unfairly targeted by the administration,” Mullin said. 

Hospitals in Oklahoma that serve a large number of people who are uninsured receive Medicaid funding, called Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments, to make up for the cost of caring for these patients. The president’s health care law contains a provision that delivers annual cuts to DSH payments beginning fiscal year 2018, to pay for parts of Obamacare, like Medicaid expansion. The PAMA Act exempts states, like Oklahoma, that haven’t expanded Medicaid under Obamacare from the DSH cuts.

Mullin added, “States that refused to expand Medicaid under Obamacare made a fiscally responsible decision. Oklahoma hospitals shouldn’t be forced to pay for other states’ Medicaid expansion. Why don’t we let states that chose to expand Medicaid pay for it themselves?”

Mullin’s bill also provides states more flexibility within their Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a Medicaid program that provides health insurance coverage for children and pregnant women. Under Obamacare, states are prohibited from changing the eligibility criteria for CHIP until 2019. The PAMA Act removes this restriction to give states the ability to transition CHIP patients to private insurance programs, which would bring down the overall cost of Medicaid.

“Oklahoma should have the flexibility it needs to structure CHIP in a way that makes sense for the state,” Mullin said. “The federal government needs to get rid of the burdensome laws that stop Medicaid from working in our states and for our people. My bill sets us in the right direction.”