Estimated 300,000 Oklahomans to lose Medicaid coverage

By SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma officials say nearly one-quarter of Oklahomans on Medicaid, about 300,000 people, will lose coverage by the end of this year as pandemic-era protections are phased out. Oklahoma Health Care Authority officials on Tuesday laid out plans to notify people over the next nine months. Agency CEO Kevin Corbett says most, including 40% who are children, are losing coverage because they or a parent earn too much to qualify for the program, known as SoonerCare. At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the federal government agreed to allow people to stay on Medicaid even if they started to make more money than usually allowed. That stopped in December when Congress ended the COVID-19 public health emergency.