Rural Hospitals Get Boost From Oklahoma Vote To Expand Medicaid

Oklahoma’s struggling rural hospitals could have better odds of staying open after voters narrowly said yes Tuesday to expanding Medicaid to cover at least 178,000 more adults.

A proposed amendment to the state Constitution (State Question 802) was adopted with 50.5% of the vote, according to unofficial returns posted on the state government’s website.

Approval of the measure means Oklahoma will join 35 other states and the District of Columbia in extending Medicaid to more people under Obamacare.

Photographer: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images

Expansion boosters say the program will provide desperately needed federal support for the state’s rural hospitals.

“We ...