A measure to expand Medicaid coverage in Oklahoma passed by a slim, 1 percent margin on Tuesday night, as the state grapples with growing concerns over coronavirus in recent weeks.
The measure officially amends the state’s constitution to implement an expansion of the federal health program to residents earning up to 138 percent of the national poverty level — translating to about $35,000 in earned wages for a family of four.
While other states, such as Idaho, Maine, Nebraska and Utah, have passed referenda altering their statutes to expand the popular health program, Oklahoma residents are the first to do so by specifically changing their Constitution. Doing so will require a more difficult and arduous process to undo the change should Republicans, who oppose the expansion in the state, try to alter or end the expansion in some way.
Before the vote on Tuesday, Oklahoma was among 14 states in the U.S. that had not yet expanded Medicaid coverage through the Affordable Care Act. In August, Missouri, another state that has not yet expanded Medicaid, will follow in Oklahoma’s footsteps and vote on a provision that would amend the state’s constitution.
The vote in Oklahoma on Tuesday night was a tight one, with just 50.5 percent of voters supporting the amendment, while 49.5 percent opposed it. Opinions on the expansion fell largely along a city-rural divide, with those in support of the measure more likely to be living in city centers, versus those living in the countryside being more likely to go against it.
Besides being the first in the nation to vote to amend its constitution to expand Medicaid, Oklahoma is also the first state to do so during the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers said that the crisis itself likely convinced many voters of the need to support the measure, as the state has seen infection numbers grow in recent weeks. On the same day that the vote happened, 585 new cases were identified in Oklahoma, a record-high for the state.
Although coronavirus is a concern for many of the state’s residents, others in Oklahoma defied health officials’ recommendations about social distancing to attend a campaign event for President Donald Trump in Tulsa on June 20. Bruce Dart, the director of Tulsa’s City-County Health Department, had urged the campaign to reconsider coming to the state at the time.
“I think it’s an honor for Tulsa to have a sitting president want to come and visit our community, but not during a pandemic,” Dart told The Tulsa World days before the event. “I’m concerned about our ability to protect anyone who attends a large, indoor event, and I’m also concerned about our ability to ensure the president stays safe as well.”
As of Wednesday morning, 13,757 cases of coronavirus have been identified in the state, with 387 having died from the disease so far, according to tracking data from The New York Times.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy