Oklahoma Medicaid Option Won't Happen This Year

Oklahoma officials say a plan to provide health coverage to 200,000 uninsured Oklahomans without expanding Medicaid likely won't materialize before this year's legislative session ends, and it's unclear how any plan might work.

Gov. Mary Fallin and the Oklahoma Health Care Authority have been seeking ways to extend health coverage to those Oklahomans since Fallin rejected the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion last November.

11/19/2012 Related Story: Gov. Fallin: Oklahoma Will Not Establish State-Run Health Insurance Exchange

They're waiting for recommendations from consultants from Utah-based Leavitt Partners, which are expected by late June.

Republican Rep. Doug Cox, who chairs the Public Health and Social Services, says an Oklahoma-based plan could still come up next year.

Cox and other officials say Oklahoma's plan could draw off of a recently approved plan in Arkansas to use Medicaid money to buy private insurance for low-income people.