OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Gov. Mary Fallin says she has
no plans to revisit her decision to reject an expansion of Medicaid in
Oklahoma, saying instead she wants the federal government to give
Oklahoma the flexibility to develop its own plan for improving the
health of the state.
In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press,
Fallin reiterated her position that the Medicaid expansion would
ultimately prove too costly to the state.
Fallin says most poor health outcomes in Oklahoma
are connected to preventable illnesses related to things like smoking,
lack of exercise and a poor diet and that she endorses a health care
plan that targets those behaviors.
Senate Democratic Leader Sean Burrage says Fallin's
idea sounds good "in theory," but that it's difficult to get Oklahomans
to break those unhealthy habits.
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