Medicaid improper payments totaled $31.1 billion in FY2024, and new research from the Hern Policy Institute (HPI) finds that the scale of those errors is equivalent to the annual workload of roughly 10,000 to 25,000 physicians.
The report, Medicaid Fraud & Improper Payments in Context, translates federal improper payment estimates into health system capacity equivalents, including physician visits, prescriptions and Medicaid enrollment levels.
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose 2.1 points in June to 97.4, nearing its 52-year average of 98.0. Expectations for better business conditions and real sales expectations improved substantially and primarily drove the rise in the Index. The Uncertainty Index fell 2 points from May to 89, remaining well above its historical average of 68.
Analysis: In 1905, Oklahoma’s first major oil boom erupted on a small farm south of Tulsa. Within two years, the field had grown from 80 acres to 8,000 acres, making Oklahoma the nation’s leading oil producer. Today, it takes four-and-a-half years on average for a company to obtain a permit to build infrastructure in the U.S. That is not caution — it is a broken system, and it is costing Oklahoma.
Data Part Two: Oversight, Finance, and Health Updates
The previous story, “Data Part One,” asked if high speed private fiber optics lines (Dark Fiber) were being installed illegally in Oklahoma to connect multiple data centers. The layman’s answer is yes as profiteers place private lines in presumed public rights-of-way without compensation, notice to landowners, or surveys. Not to put too fine a point on it, but without surveys, then are no accurate installations.
The Oklahoma Attorney Generals (AG) office has been asked to review the matter, but according to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), by law, they are not allowed to regulate data fiber. Only Oklahoma County Government is currently regulating installation and Wagoner County Commissioners, to their credit, have requested clarification from the AG office. There is no state oversight or consistent rule statewide.
Complicating matters, local officials—encouraged by economic special interests, supported by regional planning organizations, and pursuing economic gains—are signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to keep data center financial, construction, and operational details from the public.
Citizens object because publicly elected officials are sworn to represent citizens and many believe they betray constituents to sign such agreements. A law was proposed but defeated in the Oklahoma Legislature last year to specifically prohibit elected officials from signing such private NDAs. It should have been called the “Who’s your daddy law.”
Governor Kevin Stitt released the following statement Monday regarding a proposed multimillion dollar settlement to a 20 yearlong lawsuit against Oklahoma’s poultry producers.
“It is a shame that State Attorney General Gentner Drummond put our family-owned farmers through years of uncertainty and threats to ultimately reach the agreement I called for him to negotiate long ago,” said Governor Stitt. “His delay tactics and theatrics were clearly unnecessary and harmed real Oklahomans in an attempt to benefit his trial attorney supporters.”
