Fallin Asks For Reconsideration On Insure Oklahoma
Fallin asks Obama administration to reconsider Insure Oklahoma decision
BY WAYNE GREENE World Senior Writer
Thursday, June 13, 2013
OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Mary Fallin has asked White House officials to reconsider a federal decision to pull out of the state’s Insure Oklahoma program, which subsidizes private health insurance for 30,000 working poor Oklahomans.
Fallin said she called David Agnew, head of intergovernmental affairs for the White House, on Wednesday to ask that the Insure Oklahoma decision be reconsidered. When asked if she was optimistic about the chances of a reversal of the federal decision, Fallin said, “Well, I have got to ask.”
In May, federal officials told the state that it would not participate in the Insure Oklahoma program after this year unless it was altered significantly to make it conform with the Affordable Care Act — also known as “Obamacare.”
“I wanted to once again tell them we thought it was important, and we gave them all the reasons why and how it had been successful for our state,” Fallin said. “I also told him that I had actually tried to work with the Legislature the last week of session to get a bill passed to help with the 9,000 that are in the Insure Oklahoma program that will be left without coverage if we should lose the Insure Oklahoma program, and I was explaining how there would be people left without any insurance that wouldn’t be eligible for federal program.”