Oklahoma Advocacy Group Scales Back Enrollment Campaign as Medicaid Program Faces Rapid Growth

As "rapidly growing" enrollment in Oklahoma's Medicaid program brings the program close to a "crisis," the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy has "downsize[d]" its campaign to enroll more women and children in the program, the Daily Oklahoman reports. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority is estimating 9% growth in enrollment for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. George Miller, chair of the agency's financial review subcommittee, said, "I think it's very important that we insure as many children as we can. That's one of the reasons the Oklahoma Health Care Authority was created -- to broaden the Medicaid program. The other side of the coin is the resources may not be there to pay for all these enrollees." With the program facing potential financial problems, the OICA has scaled back its campaign to enroll more women and children. The group received a $700,000 Covering Kids and Families grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a $300,000 Oklahoma Easter Seals Healthy Beginnings grant to increase Medicaid enrollment. But the group reached an "informal agreement" with the Health Care Authority to reduce the scope of the campaign. OICA Health Educator Belinda Rogers said that instead of working to locate women and children eligible for the program, the group will focus on retaining families already enrolled in the program, which requires recertification every six months (Hinton, Daily Oklahoman, 6/24).