Fallin-Failing, begs lawmakers to pass Obamacare enabling bill

Kaye Beach

March 24, 2011

54 Million Dollars from the federal government for what?!:

On Friday, Feburary 25, 2011 OK Governor Mary Fallin issued a press release announcing ”Oklahoma Will Accept $54 M “Early Innovator Grant” to Support Oklahoma-Based Health Insurance Exchange.”

Noticeably missing from the announcement is the fact that the “Early Innovators” grants are to fund implementation of the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure needed to operate Health Insurance Exchanges, a cornerstone of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka “ObamaCare.”  More

OK Republicans Implementing “Obama Care”

Exchanges – Cornerstone of the PPACA

The creation of Health Insurance Exchanges is a cornerstone of  PPACA (ObamaCare), without which there would be no socialized health care plan.  The plan requires an IT infrastructure to be in place in order to function.  No Exchanges, no ObamaCare.

Last week’s news:

Republican-led OK House passes HB 2130, an “ObamaCare” Enabler

The OK House passed, albeit narrowly, a controversial piece of enabling legislation authored by Speaker Kris Steele; HB 2130, paves the way for the further implementation of “ObamaCare” in Oklahoma via health care exchanges. Read more

On March 22, 2011 Oklahoma News on 6 reports:

Oklahoma Governor Proposes Alternative To Federal Health Care Law

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin has announced a proposed alternative to President Obama’s health care law, also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Governor Fallin sent a letter to state lawmakers Tuesday asking them to pass House Bill 2130. Read more

Governor Fallin seems to want Oklahomans to believe that the she took the 54 million from the federal government to create health information exchanges for implementation of Obamacare so that she could better protect them from the federal government’s Obamacare.  This is a great example of bafflegab.

Most people faced with such conflicting, incongruent information along with a reluctance to believe that our “conservative” elected leaders would be so fullapelosi, will throw up their hands and go back to their busy lives.  That is exactly why such nonsense works on us.  Fortunately there are a honest few that know the issues and will tell you what this is all really about.

Here are some of the remarks made by just two of those kind interspersed with Mary Fallin’s  statements  from her letter to Oklahoma lawmakers.

First is. Dr. Rosenwasser writes in her article for the AAPS, States Should Not Set Up Health Insurance Exchanges (as required by ObamaCare):

“Regardless of which entity sets up the exchange, the Department of Health and Human Services is given power to determine minimum requirements for medical services of all kinds, including the people who provide the services, as well as what the patient pays.”

Michael F Cannon writes in his recent article for the National Review, “Obamacare Can’t Be Fixed, and Now Is the Time to Dismantle It”:

“. . . opponents may never have more power to chart Obamacare’s course than they do right now. In particular, the decisions that federal and state officials make today could determine whether the 2012 elections produce a Congress and president who are willing to repeal the law. In other words, the iron is hot.

Congressional Republicans appear to grasp the weight of this moment. They are doing everything they can to ensure that Obamacare never sees the year 2014: forcing votes on repealing and de-funding the law, and undertaking a two-year campaign to expose its harmful effects. Unfortunately, their efforts are being undercut by their friends back home.

Rather than beat their plowshares into swords, Obamacare opponents in most state capitols are laying the bureaucratic foundations for the law’s new entitlement spending and lending it legitimacy by accepting its debt-financed federal grants.”

Fallin writes:

Under current law as outlined by the PPACA, the federal government will begin establishing a federally designed and run health insurance exchange in 2013 in all 50 states except those that have begun implementing their own state-based exchanges. If we do not develop our own exchange, if we instead do nothing, then we will be powerless to oppose the creation of a federally run program in Oklahoma.

Michael F Cannon writes:

Running their own exchanges won’t empower states to prevent both the most economical and the most comprehensive health plans from disappearing from their markets. . . .Nor can state-run exchanges prevent other dimensions of quality from eroding.

. . .There is no good way, or even a less-bad way, for states or the feds to implement Obamacare’s exchanges or other central elements. Permitted to stand, Obamacare will reduce Americans’ incomes, harm their health, and decrease their freedom

Fallin writes:

“. . .the Oklahoma Health Insurance Exchange we are seeking to create will be an online health insurance market that empowers consumers by providing vastly improved access to information on private insurance products and expanding the purchasing power of individuals and small businesses. Private insurance products will be sold to meet individual needs, insurers will compete to promote real choices for consumers and the free-market will work to lower costs”

Dr. Rosenwasser  says:

“Regardless of which entity sets up the exchange, the Department of Health and Human Services is given power to determine minimum requirements for medical services of all kinds, including the people who provide the services, as well as what the patient pays.”

Fallin writes:

“If we do not pass HB 2130 and implement an Oklahoma-based exchange, the results will be devastating for those of us who oppose ObamaCare and the federal intrusion it represents. Without an Oklahoma exchange, the state is virtually guaranteed to be subject to a federally run. . .”

Michael F. Cannon writes:

“But federal control is not just the exchanges’ default setting — it’s the only setting.

In sum, states can impose harsher regulations than Obamacare requires and can choose who sits on their exchange’s board. That’s it.

Running their own exchanges won’t empower states to prevent both the most economical and the most comprehensive health plans from disappearing from their markets. Affordable plans will disappear because Obamacare requires all purchasers to buy whatever coverage Sebelius mandates as “essential,”

Read more

Dr. Rosenwasser  warns:

“ If ObamaCare persists, exchanges will be bureaucratic nightmares. If it is repealed or declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, states that set up exchanges will just have wasted time, money, and effort.

These are good reasons for not establishing exchanges, but there is another still more compelling. The sovereign states are not supposed to be agents of the federal government. It is properly the other way around.”

Fallin concludes her letter pleading with state lawmakers to vote for HB 2130;

“. . defend Oklahoma against the federalization of our health insurance by voting for HB 2130.”  Read more

The assessments of these two knowledgeable professionals also happen to agree with the assessment of our local tried and true conservative group OK-SAFE. They also back up their assessment with the facts that you can read for yourself.

See this flyer for more details:

03232011 Flyer Opposing HB2130

So much for our new Oklahoma Republican leadership.  Their strategy-deny, deny, deny.

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