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Cherokee Nation chief urges protection of Medicaid expansion, outlines major health, education and housing investments
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Summary
Chief Chuck Hoskins told members of the House the Cherokee Nation will continue large-scale investments — including a planned $450 million hospital and $25 million in scholarships — and urged lawmakers to protect Medicaid expansion, which he said has delivered reimbursements, jobs and economic impact to Oklahoma communities.
Chuck Hoskins, Chief of the Cherokee Nation, addressed members of the House and urged them to protect Medicaid expansion while outlining a series of Cherokee Nation investments in education, housing and health care.
"When the Cherokee nation is in this chamber, we are among friends," Hoskins said as he introduced a delegation that included Deputy Chief Brian Warner and the Nation's secretary of state, Shela Bowman. He framed education and health care as the Nation's top priorities and described recent and planned spending to support those goals.
Hoskins said the Cherokee Nation recently provided $7,200,000 directly to representatives of 107 Oklahoma public school districts and has committed $80,000,000 to replace Head Start centers. He announced a $25,000,000 scholarship program to send Cherokee students to college, noting most recipients attend Oklahoma public universities.
On health care, Hoskins previewed a planned $450,000,000 hospital in Tahlequah, highlighted an $85,000,000 outpatient center opened in Salina last year and said the Nation will open a nursing school in 2027. He described the health system as oriented toward "wellness," combining clinical care with exercise and nutrition services.
Hoskins said the Cherokee Nation has invested about $1,000,000,000 in health-care construction in northeast Oklahoma over the past seven years and that those projects were "not built with Oklahoma taxpayer dollars." He criticized federal funding levels for Indian health, saying the Indian Health Service budget is "largely flat" and that the United States is "about 1,000,000,000 dollars behind" on building health-care facilities.
Arguing that the Nation cannot wait for federal help on housing, Hoskins said the Cherokee Nation is using its own revenue to build homes, create local jobs and expand a building-trades program in Tahlequah to train carpenters and other construction workers. He also said the Nation will open three new child development centers by year end to address a local childcare deficit.
On Medicaid expansion, Hoskins credited the policy with producing roughly $91,000,000 in reimbursements to the Cherokee Nation health system, supporting about 1,400 jobs, and creating an estimated $222,000,000 in economic impact that he said returns to communities via scholarships, clinics and grants. "Those are some of the best dollars that any government could ever spend," he said.
Acknowledging lawmakers' concerns about Medicaid's cost, Hoskins urged them to defend expansion, saying the state "can afford to lose Medicaid expansion" only at great local cost and pledging to work to protect the program.
Hoskins closed by reiterating the Cherokee Nation's commitment to partnership with the state and thanking members of the House. "We will be there to help make sure that this great century for the Cherokee nation is a great century for the state of Oklahoma," he said.
The chief's visit was primarily an address and did not produce formal motions or votes in the House; Hoskins' remarks combined announcements of the Nation's current and planned spending with an appeal to lawmakers on Medicaid policy.
