Oklahoma's Proposed Medicaid Cut Won't Pass Federal Muster

Oklahoma's Senate is considering legislation, which its House passed last week, to end Medicaid coverage for 110,000 very low-income parents.  But even if Oklahoma enacts the legislation, federal officials almost certainly won't grant the needed federal approval to move forward.

By federal law, states must provide Medicaid coverage to parents who would have been eligible for cash assistance in 1996 under the old Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, which the welfare law of that year replaced with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.  Accordingly, Oklahoma limits Medicaid coverage to parents with incomes below about 44 percent of the poverty line, or $8,900 a year for a family of three.  Under the proposal that Oklahoma is considering, they'd all lose Medicaid coverage.  (Non-elderly childless adults who aren't disabled are already ineligible for Medicaid in Oklahoma, regardless of income.)