OKLAHOMA CITY — It has been nearly five years since Oklahomans voted to expand Medicaid, but thousands of children in the state still aren’t covered by insurance and lack access to basic health and dental care.
The Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy has set a goal for making 2025 a year of change.
More than 100 advocates for children who met at the institute’s recent fall forum in Oklahoma City agreed to include improved access to health-related services as one of their four primary goals to pursue during the upcoming session of the Oklahoma Legislature.
Other goals include revisiting schools’ corporal punishment policies and providing better educational support for children and teachers, passing legislation to improve state support for foster families, and strengthening family leave programs.
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According to the organization’s legislative agenda, which should be finalized in the coming week, health services for Oklahoma children could be strengthened by, among other things, improving outreach and efforts to get eligible children enrolled in SoonerCare, the state’s Medicaid program.
Joe Dorman, the institute’s chief executive officer, spoke about the legislative agenda during a recent meeting of the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth. He said it has been estimated that about 7% of children in the state, about 70,000, currently are not enrolled in any kind of health insurance program. About half of them would likely be eligible for SoonerCare.
“Despite expanding Medicaid a few years ago, we are still facing a significant problem in Oklahoma with enrolling those under 18,” he said.
Dorman said the OICA has partnered with Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma to improve outreach, especially in 20 rural counties where Medicaid enrollment has lagged. People can go to myokplan.org or call 833-465-7526 to find out if their families qualify.
Advocates who attended the forum also agreed that lawmakers should consider increasing the income cap for Insure Oklahoma, an employer-sponsored insurance plan supported by the state, to make more families eligible. Additionally, they called for expanded support for certified community behavioral health clinics, community health aide programs, school-based social workers and mobile dental health programs.
Dorman said those who helped shape the legislative agenda also discussed behavioral issues and school policies regarding punishment.
“(The) OICA will renew our efforts to seek a law forbidding corporal punishment in schools as a punishment for students with special educational needs,” he said.
Such a bill advanced through the Senate but stalled during the final days of the 2024 legislative session.
The institute also adopted a position opposing out-of-school suspensions for pre-K through fifth-grade students. Dorman said data show that out-of-school suspension for younger students may actually lead to more misbehavior. It also may force parents to take time off from work or pay for costly child care.
The agenda also calls for legislation to show more support for teachers and school administrators, to address troubling high rates of absenteeism among older students and to strengthen programs and policies designed to curb child abuse and teen pregnancy.
Other legislative priorities of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy include focusing more emphasis on support for children in the state system, including by increasing payment for services provided by foster families and exploring funding for grandparents who are raising grandchildren.
“Many of these Oklahomans are living on fixed incomes as they have often reached retirement and Social Security age. By providing some type of financial assistance, this will improve the odds that the youth do not end up in a foster care setting,” Dorman said.
The OICA also will work with lawmakers to expand on work from two years ago to provide paid leave time for state employees and educators who are mothers. In its legislative agenda, it said advocates also will encourage time off for fathers and an examination of leave policies for people who adopt children or become foster parents.
The institute also stated support for an expanded child care tax credit and other financial support for families with children in day care, tax credits for employers that offer child care, remote work opportunities and better leveraging of Head Start.
“As we finalize the document, we are also in conversation with several lawmakers to address key points from the agenda,” Dorman said.
The deadline for lawmakers to submit legislative proposals is Dec. 6.
“We hope that many of these points will make it past this first hurdle,” Dorman said.
