Tulsa city councilors support a proposal to halt drastic cuts to Oklahoma’s health care system.
Phil Lakin was one of six votes for a resolution telling state lawmakers to pass the Medicaid Rebalancing Act because there are no options left.
"Medicaid matches go 10 percent for the state of Oklahoma, 90 percent for the federal government, but we don't have anything to use for our 10 percent unless we get this $1.50 cigarette tax," Lakin said.
The tax would fund bringing Medicaid reimbursement rates back to 86 percent and covering 175,000 Oklahomans without insurance.
"This is as dire as it gets," Lakin said. "We have a fiduciary and a moral responsibility to the citizens of Tulsa, but I think we also have that same responsibility to the citizens of Oklahoma."
Councilor Karen Gilbert was absent. Councilors G.T. Bynum and Blake Ewing left the meeting before the vote.
"We're asking [legislators] to support an act that we — I've never read," Bynum said. "I've not talked to anybody on the other side of this or talked to any state legislators, so I'm going to abstain from this since I don't know enough about it to make an informed vote."
Health officials say if the Medicaid Rebalancing Act fails, most of Oklahoma’s nursing homes and rural hospitals will close.
