Oklahoma Senate Passes Health Care Protection Bill

[Arrow]

Oklahoma Senate Passes Health Care Protection Bill
Posted: Mar 23, 2010 4:36 PM CDT Updated: Mar 23, 2010 5:11 PM CDT
NewsOn6.com

OKLAHOMA CITY -- In light of the Congressional passage of legislation overhauling the nation's health care system,
state lawmakers voted Tuesday to allow Oklahoma voters to opt-out of the federalized system.

House Joint Resolution 1054, by Ritze (R-Oklahoma City), state Sen. Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso) and state
Rep. Mike Reynolds (R-Oklahoma City), would allow the voters to change the Oklahoma Constitution to include
a "Freedom of Healthcare Choice Act."


Under the proposed amendment, no law or rule could compel any person, employer or health care provider to
participate in any health care system. It would also prevent Oklahomans from being financially penalized if they
choose not to purchase insurance mandated by the federal health care plan, and doctors would still be allowed
to accept direct payment for services without fear of financial penalty.


"When voters approve this amendment, the Oklahoma Constitution will tell the federal government that they would
like to pursue their own course when it comes to health care," Ritze said. "Though a national majority opposes the
health care overhaul, here in Oklahoma opposition is even greater and there is no reason we can't do things our way."


With the Senate passage of the legislation, language will be placed on the ballot to amend the Oklahoma Constitution
to declare what types of health care systems could lawfully exist in the state.


House Joint Resolution 1054 passed by a vote of 36-11.
　
http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=12191589

[Arrow]

Obamacare To Create Budget Problems In Oklahoma
Contact: State Rep. Ron Peters
Capitol: (405) 557-7359

OKLAHOMA CITY (March 23, 2010) — Federal Health Care legislation signed into law by
President Barack Obama today places an enormous unfunded mandate on Oklahoma,
the chairman of the House Human Services Committee said today.

Even before the national recession, states, including Oklahoma, were having a difficult time
keeping up with the Federal demand for matching funds related to Medicaid. Since the recession,
with tax revenues down, funding Medicaid—even before the expansion called for in this new health
legislation—was going to be difficult.

This task will become exponentially harder in December of 2012 when the federal stimulus funds
that have been used to help states weather the recession are no longer available. In Oklahoma,
the health care stimulus dollars will have to be replaced beginning in FY12 or risk having a substantially
smaller program that either serves fewer persons or rations coverage.

If the state replaces all of the federal stimulus funds used related to health and human services, this
would total over a billion dollars and this is before the expansion of coverage mandated in the new
federal health care legislation.

"We have been concerned about runaway Medicaid expenditures for years, even before this
unprecedented expansion of federal health care was enacted," said Rep. Ron Peters, R-Tulsa. "With
these new federal mandates, I don’t see how our state will be able to sustain ongoing and increased
funding requirements without either cutting services or raising taxes." Under the federal health bill,
Oklahoma will be required to provide Medicaid coverage to a much larger group of persons than now
beginning in 2014, though this will initially be paid using federal funds.

This will change in 2016 when the state will have come up with the state match of 10 percent on these
new federal Medicaid funds and any more federal funds that the new requirement obligates the states
to match as more persons become eligible for coverage in the future. Recent occurrences point out
the problem with such a policy. First, the state in FY-10 had to consider reducing doctor and provider
reimbursement rates because of the state budget shortfall. This possibility still exists as lawmakers
put together the FY-11 budget.

Second, as the state grapples with the financial problems of the recession and begins to struggle with
filling the current federal Medicaid stimulus funds hole, the likely targets for replacing such funds will
have to be areas with significant funding like education, roads, and corrections."Oklahoma’s struggles
with Medicaid funding are not new, and will only be exacerbated by this new law," said Peters. I had hoped
we would be able to tackle this looming funding issue locally, but instead Washington is imposing a federal
health care plan on our state that our people don’t want and we can’t afford.

"Our Democratic president and Democratically-controlled Congress have ignored the pleas of states across
the country who cannot afford this unfunded mandate in good economic times, let alone during a recession,"
Peters concluded.