Health bill could raise Oklahoma’s costs

The Senate is set to begin consideration of its own version of health insurance reform within weeks, and that bill could also include a wide expansion of Medicaid.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been trying to meld two Senate committee bills into one; the bill that came out of the Senate Finance Committee — the panel that deals with entitlement programs like Medicaid — would make Medicaid available to all making less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level (about $30,000 a year for a family of four and $14,400 for an individual).

Some senators, including U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Tulsa, have offered alternative health insurance proposals that would get rid of Medicaid — viewed by many as second-rate because of the number of doctors that won’t see Medicaid patients — and instead give subsidies and tax credits to low-income people to buy private insurance.