Let's Get Loud, Oklahoma!

No. 1 In The NBA; 49th In Health Care

Oklahoma City is loud and proud over the Thunder's championship win. It is surely heady stuff for these elite athletes to achieve the ultimate victory. Their fans are vicariously sharing the thrill. Just like they do in the arena during home games, locals by the thousands turned the streets of OKC into "Loud City" during the NBA Championship parade.

Now it's time to make noise about another thing.

BUZZKILL

Just as Thunder fans' spirits are soaring, the Commonwealth Fund has released its 2025 Scorecard on State Health System Performance. Oklahoma's poor showing – rated 49th in the nation overall – is a bit of a buzzkill.

The Commonwealth Fund is an independent organization that monitors health care in 10 different countries, including the U.S. Its most recent annual report on the U.S., grimly entitled A Portrait of the Failing US Health System, compares health care data based on 50 different measures. This data is further extrapolated in their state-by-state Scorecard, released last week.

Upon the Scorecard's release, independent news outlet Oklahoma Voice reported its findings. Coinciding as it did with the NBA finals [not to mention other world events competing for attention], this news item may have gone largely unnoticed. Buzzkill or not, its importance to the people of our state cannot be overemphasized.

Here is a partial break-down of Oklahoma's rankings in the 2025 Healthcare Scorecard:

· Deaths from Breast Cancer: Worst in the nation

· Medical Debt: Worst in the nation

· Uninsured, Ages 19-64: Ranked 50th [out of 51]

· Healthcare Access & Affordability: Ranked 48th, one of the worst in the nation

· Maternal Mortality: Ranked 48th, one of the worst in the nation

· Deaths from Preventable and Treatable Causes: Ranked 48th, among the worst in the nation

· Racial Health Equity: Ranked 46th, among the worst in the nation

· Suicides: Ranked 46th, among the worst in the nation

· Prevention and Treatment of illness: Ranked 46th, among the worst in the nation

· Adults who Smoke Tobacco: Ranked 46th, among the worst in the nation

· Avoidable ER Visits: Ranked 45th, one of the worst in the nation

· Infant Mortality: In the Bottom 10, ranked 42nd in the nation

· Alcohol-related Deaths: In the Bottom 10, ranked 41st in the nation

· Drug Overdoses: In the middle of the pack, ranked 25th in the nation

Oklahoma does compare favorably in one category: the amount of spending on primary care for seniors. Also, every state has reduced the number of people without health insurance, including Oklahoma, although our state remains near the bottom – only Texas is ranked worse for the number of uninsured adults. These numbers are likely to worsen in Oklahoma and across the nation if proposed cuts to Medicaid go into effect.

According to the Scorecard summary, "The lowest-ranked states are Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and West Virginia." The best performers are Massachusetts, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Washington, DC. [By the way, while these are not included in this Scorecard, Oklahoma also is among the worst in the nation for teen pregnancies and food insecurity.]

Overall, Oklahoma's health care system ranks 49th in the nation out of 51 [including DC] – and dead last in the Southwest region. [Among the 10 nations included in the international report, the U.S. ranks last.]

It's time to make some noise.

LET'S GET LOUD, OKLAHOMA!

As exciting as it is to have the NBA's No. 1 team, having a health care system that scrapes the bottom is completely unacceptable. All Oklahomans deserve better than this. If we can shake the arena's rafters at Thunder games, we can make just as much racket [metaphorically, at least] at the Capitol.

Oklahoma is in a health care crisis. We can and we must demand it be treated as such.

The state Legislature is out of session for the rest of the year. This is the time to make noise. We must make sure our lawmakers are aware of the Commonwealth Fund's rankings and what it means for Oklahoma. Improving to at least the national average needs to be proclaimed as our state's "moonshot mission." Policy makers need to hear this from you: loudly. That is to say, frequently and persistently.

Consider this an action alert. Contact the Oklahoma Health Care Authority; the Governor's Office; the Majority and Minority Leaders of both state legislative chambers; the state Senate and House committees on Health Care; and your own state representative and senator.

Share the links in this article with these policy makers. Feel free to include this article, as well. Respectfully insist that improving our health care system be made top priority of the next legislative session, and that preparations for doing so begin now.

Call for the formation of a bipartisan Oklahoma Health Care Crisis Task Force. Their two-fold mission: to study data from the Commonwealth Fund's 2025 report, the Oklahoma State Health Department, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, and other resources; and to develop a bipartisan strategy for making dramatic improvements in our weakest areas. The task force should produce a work product made available to the public, the media, and all state agencies, lawmakers, and the governor. State leaders should declare it Oklahoma's moonshot mission, and make it a big deal – as big a deal, even, as the Thunder.

Ask for a response to your letters, emails, and phone calls, and for regular updates between now and the end of this year. Follow up at least once a month. As lawmakers' offices open early next year, plan to visit them in person with these talking points. In the meantime, copy and forward your correspondence to policy leadership organizations such as Oklahoma Policy Institute, the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs, Let's Fix This, and others to enlist their help in mobilizing a statewide, all-partisan/nonpartisan movement for improving health care in our state.

Together let's make the state Capitol OKC's next building to earn the name "Loud City." Like in our arena, let's get loud and proud – for healthcare.

Illustration: A.I.-generated image courtesy of Randall White