By Barbara Hoberock | Senior reporter
“These recommended rate increases reflect a health care environment where medical costs continue to climb, utilization has increased, and the plan must collect the premiums necessary to pay future claims, preserve its financial strength, and remain a high-quality, competitive health benefit for Oklahoma’s public employees, retirees and their families.” - Rebecca Sheppard of health insurance rate hikes
Oklahomans could see spikes in their health insurance premiums this upcoming year. (Krisanapong Detraphiphat/Getty Images)
By Emma Murphy
As Oklahoma’s state employees face potential double-digit hikes in health insurance premiums, experts are warning that all Oklahomans should brace for a similar shock this year.
Amid rising healthcare costs, increased utilization and inflation, most Oklahomans, including those insured through private insurance and Obamacare, are also projected to see double-digit premium increases as well, according to analyses from KFF, a nonprofit health policy research, polling, and news organization.
Last week, about 180,000 Oklahoma state employees, retirees and their families were the latest group to learn that their premiums could increase from 15.8% to 19.5% depending on their preferred HealthChoice plan.
Voters wait in line outside the Oklahoma County Election Board on Oct. 30, 2024 to cast a vote in the Nov. 5 election. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice)
By Emma Murphy
Oklahomans are set to vote later this month on whether to amend the state Constitution to include voter identification requirements and to give lawmakers greater authority over election law.
Brentwood, Tenn.-based CoreCivic reported a 27% revenue jump tied to contacts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate detention facilities. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
By Anita Wadhwani
Revenue grew more than 27% for private prison operator CoreCivic as the Tennessee company profited from contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that support the Trump administration’s mass detention and deportation agenda, according to a shareholders’ report released last week.
President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he arrives with his then-personal attorney Todd Blanche in court for opening statements in his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 22, 2024, in New York City. Trump was convicted of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. Since his election, he’s nominated Blanche to be attorney general of the United States. (Photo by Yuki Iwamura-Pool/Getty Images)
By Sam Gauntt
Todd Blanche took the oath of office as U.S. attorney general at a brief ceremony in the Oval Office Monday, following the Senate’s narrow vote to approve his nomination as the nation’s top law enforcement official over the weekend.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency building in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 25, 2024. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
By Jennifer Shutt
The U.S. Senate on Friday approved Cameron Hamilton to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, giving the agency its first administrator since President Donald Trump took office last year.
ICYMI
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