Health Care

More than half of Oklahoma children on Medicaid

October 23, 2020

Kaitlyn Finley

More than half of all Oklahoma children were enrolled in Medicaid last year, according to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority’s annual report.

The expenditures on behalf of the 595,000 children on SoonerCare, Oklahoma Medicaid program, totaled $1.05 billion in fiscal year 2019. Children whose parents make less than 210 percent of the federal poverty level (e.g., $55,044 for a four-person household) are eligible for Medicaid. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority’s report also noted that 57 percent of all births in Oklahoma were covered by SoonerCare.

Children under the age of 18 comprise approximately 60 percent of the nearly 1 million SoonerCare enrollees. SoonerCare’s total enrollment will increase significantly upon the expansion of Medicaid to able-bodied adults beginning next July.