October 1, 2018

OHCA Contact: Jo Stainsby - (405) 522-7474; Katelynn Burns - (405) 522-7266

Insure Oklahoma Program Renewal Approved until 2023

Oklahoma City - The Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) recently received notification that Insure Oklahoma, the state’s premium assistance program for businesses and employees, has been reauthorized by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for another five years.    

Historically, the Insure Oklahoma program has been reauthorized on a yearly basis. However, this year CMS approved the waiver to secure the program for five years, effective Aug. 31, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2023.    

“We are very pleased with the decision to renew Insure Oklahoma for five more years. This successful program provides Oklahomans with an affordable option for health care coverage,” said OHCA CEO Becky Pasternik-Ikard.     

Nearly 4,600 businesses and more than 19,600 lower-income Oklahomans are enrolled in either Insure Oklahoma’s Employer-Sponsored Insurance (ESI) plan or Individual Plan. Under the ESI plan, private health premium costs are shared by Insure Oklahoma (60 percent), the employer (25 percent) and the employee (15 percent). The Individual Plan allows those who don’t have access to health insurance through their employer -- including the self-employed, temporarily unemployed and college students -- to buy health benefits directly through the state.    

Insure Oklahoma is funded by the state’s tobacco tax matched with federal Medicaid funds.    

For more information about Insure Oklahoma, call 888-365-3742 or visit www.insureoklahoma.org. 

The Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) administers two health programs for the state. The first is SoonerCare, Oklahoma’s Medicaid program. SoonerCare works to improve the health of qualified Oklahomans by ensuring that medically necessary benefits and services are available. Qualifying Oklahomans include certain low-income children, seniors, the disabled, those being treated for breast or cervical cancer and those seeking family planning services. The second program OHCA operates is Insure Oklahoma, which assists qualifying adults and small business employees in obtaining health care coverage for themselves and their families. Currently, there are 821,781 Oklahomans enrolled in OHCA’s programs. The agency contracts with a network of 48,486 providers. For more information, visit www.okhca.org or www.insureoklahoma.org.