Oklahoma already has one of the strictest standards for Medicaid enrollment in the country. A single parent with one child taking home $625 dollars per month makes too much to be eligible. SB 1030 would cut that threshold even lower. The monthly income limit for a single mother with one child would be just $275 per month. This new cutoff would be lower than every state in the U.S. except Texas and Alabama.
Over 40,000 Oklahoma parents could lose their health care if this bill should pass. That’s a number equal to the number of undergraduate students at OU and OSU combined. Two in three of those who would lose coverage are mothers.
SB 1030 has been assigned to the House Appropriations and Budget Health Subcommittee. Please call the members of the subcommittee and ask them to vote NO to SB 1030:
Rep. Chad Caldwell (Chair): chad.caldwell@okhouse.gov; 405-557-7317
Rep. Dale Derby (Vice Chair): dale.derby@okhouse.gov; 405-557-7377
Rep. Mickey Dollens: mickey.dollens@okhouse.gov; 405-557-7371
Rep. Claudia Griffith: claudia.griffith@okhouse.gov; 405-557-7386
Rep. Glen Mulready: glen.mulready@okhouse.gov; 405-557-7340
Rep. Mike Ritze: mike.ritze@okhouse.gov; 405-557-7338
Rep. Sean Roberts: sean.roberts@okhouse.gov; 405-557-7322
Rep. Michael Rogers: michael.rogers@okhouse.gov; 405-557-7362
Cutting parents off SoonerCare will increase Oklahoma’s already high uninsured rate and put even greater strains on our already-underfunded safety net health centers and hospital emergency rooms. People with disabilities, mental illness, and substance use disorders will lose coverage as a result of this bill. This will leave them with nowhere to go for the care they need and make it even harder for them to maintain the health they need to be productively employed.
Please tell the subcommittee members that Oklahoma has better options to increase working and reduce poverty, but taking away health care from struggling parents will only make our state’s economic future worse.
Learn more about attacks on Oklahomans’ health care here.
