If a person who is on active duty with the United States Armed Forces makes an application to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to receive any type of benefits, either for himself or herself or for an immediate family member, and the person has previously made the same or a substantially similar application in another state which was pending at the time the person became a resident of this state, the Authority shall consider the application as if it had been made in this state at the time it was originally made in the other state.
Okla. Stat. tit. 63, § 5018.1