Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said Medicaid expansion has delivered more than $220 million in economic impact and created 14,000 jobs during remarks to the Oklahoma House of Representatives on April 8, setting off a sharp dispute with House Speaker Kyle Hilbert over whether an invited guest had crossed into politics. Hilbert wrote Hoskin a letter the same day saying he was disappointed by the chief's decision to delve into political matters during the speech.
Hoskin's comments came as proposals to roll back Medicaid expansion were already moving through the Legislature. He told lawmakers the program is vital to the Cherokee Nation's health care system and said it has generated about $91 million within the tribe's health system alone.
Hilbert said it was quite inappropriate and contrary to House rules for an invited guest to use the platform that way. He added that there would be no circumstance where he, as an invited guest to the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council or an Inter-Tribal Council meeting, would use the platform to take positions contrary to the Cherokee Nation.
Hoskin replied the same day with a two-sentence letter, writing that Hilbert's note illustrates the great challenges for tribes in engaging with the state of Oklahoma. Hilbert later said Hoskin will not be invited back to the House.
The fight now sits alongside new versions of HB 4440 and HJR 1067, which the State Senate advanced on Tuesday for Oklahoma's Nov. 3 general election ballot. The measures would put two options before voters for loosening the current requirement that adults up to 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Level qualify for Medicaid, while the new version of HB 4440 would retain the constitutional Medicaid expansion requirement voters narrowly approved in 2020.
The dispute is bigger than one speech. It shows how quickly the statehouse fight over Medicaid expansion has spilled into personal and institutional territory, with tribes and legislative leaders now openly clashing over who gets to define the rules of the conversation.
