Stecklein: 300,000 Oklahomans face surging health insurance costs

Earlier this month, Oklahoma’s state Insurance Department issued a stark warning that should alarm us all.

When federally enhanced tax credits expire at the end of the year, some Oklahomans will see their health insurance premiums increase by over 75%. The state agency additionally warned that the termination of the federal program and stricter eligibility verification checks will likely “result in a significant decrease in enrollment.”

Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready , a Republican, has urged Congress “to take a softer approach to ending” the subsidies and warned that “the impact to Oklahoma hospital systems is yet to be realized.”

That’s because nearly 300,000 Oklahomans rely on the federal marketplace for health insurance. The tax credits, which end unless Congress t