Steele To Speak On Medicaid System

Rep. Kris Steele, the state lawmaker who helped lead the successful effort to reform Oklahoma's antiquated Medicaid system, will speak to a conference of lawmakers from around the country about the program's progress.

Medicaid reform legislation authored by Steele (R-Shawnee) was enacted into law last year and has since been praised as a national model for fixing outdated and overly expensive state Medicaid systems and replacing them with systems that empower patients and increase efficiency.

Steele's presentation on the crafting of the legislation and its reforms will be part of the 2007 Legislative Leaders Health Care Forum, to be held February 15-17 in Denver.

"If states are not careful, Medicaid can easily overwhelm their statebudgets, just like it was doing here in Oklahoma," said Steele (R-Shawnee). "That's why we have begun to take steps to reform the system, and in the process we have given Medicaid recipients more choices and more control over their own health care."

In 2005, Steele chaired a bipartisan task force on Medicaid reform,which held a series of hearings at the state Capitol and conducted a statewide listening tour.

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