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Legislation that would protect Oklahomans from inflated “surprise” medical bills has advanced from the state Senate despite apparent lobbying in opposition by hospital officials.

The Republican-controlled Oklahoma House of Representatives voted this week to encourage medical professionals serving pregnant women to undergo “implicit bias” training.

Gov. Kevin Stitt’s decision to unilaterally expand Oklahoma’s Medicaid program to include able-bodied adults has left lawmakers scrambling to fund the program. A measure that would redirect Oklahoma’s tobacco-settlement funds to Medicaid is one proposal that has now gained approval in the Oklahoma Senate.

Governor Kevin Stitt is seeking to expand Medicaid eligibility to hundreds of thousands of able-bodied adults under his “SoonerCare 2.0” plan.

GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt’s embrace of Obamacare Medicaid expansion and Republican legislative leaders’ efforts to assist in that effort has reaped backhanded praise from an unexpected source: legislative Democrats who have long championed the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its Medicaid expansion.

Gov. Kevin Stitt has endorsed Medicaid expansion and urged lawmakers to enact a de facto tax increase to pay for it. A related funding measure was placed on a Feb. 26 committee agenda for a morning vote, but the committee did not convene. The reasons for the delay were not immediately revealed, but challenges continue to surround the tax-increase proposal, ranging from the fact that it will not generate enough revenue to cover the state cost of Medicaid expansion to suggestions the proposal may be illegal .

While Oklahoma state government has increasingly spent more money on mental health treatment, it appears lawmakers have struggled to keep track of that spending and if it has generated positive results, based on legislation that has advanced through a Senate committee.

Oklahoma’s political leaders must not further disincentivize work and create a new dependency class by expanding medical-welfare entitlements. Only greater price transparency and competition in health care will reduce health care prices.

Grappling with the surging expense of Oklahoma’s Medicaid program and the potential for even greater costs if a ballot measure expanding the program passes later this year, members of a Senate committee have voted to redirect state tobacco settlement funds to Medicaid.

Oklahoma must expand welfare in order to get more federal dollars—this a common argument for the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. It makes sense, unless you have all the facts.