New Oklahoma Health Plan

[Townsend]

I guess it's all better now...

Per the Tulsa World:

Oklahoma is the second state to sign up for a conservative alternative to the federal health initiative - the Health Care Compact.


Proponents say it is a more responsive, less bureaucratic alternative to President Barack Obama's health care initiatives.

Opponents say it's a pipe dream that seeks to tinker with the nation's health care funding mechanism for political reasons.

Last month Gov. Mary Fallin signed legislation to join the compact. So far, Georgia is the only other state to join. Several states are considering membership, including Texas and Missouri.

If approved by Congress, the plan would turn most federal health care funding into block grants to states, which would be free to set their policies on how that money would be spent.

"Rather than entrusting the federal government with administration of a bureaucratic, nightmarishly large system, what we're seeking to do is join with the other states in creating a regional health care delivery system," said Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, author of the Oklahoma compact legislation.

State governments are more responsive to the needs of citizens and are more efficient with money, Jolley said.

"I don't think Oklahoma wants to be in the business of administering health care, but it's preferable to federal government administering health care," Jolley said. "It's one of those situations where you have the option to put your head in the sand and do nothing in response to the federal government's (health care act) or you can try to come up with alternatives and solutions to try to provide a different option that may be better and more preferable to the state."

Opponents of the proposal say Congress will never agree to the plan.

During state House debate over the proposal in April, Rep. Scott Inman, D-Oklahoma City, said he would have the proposal bound so that he could put it between his daughter's copies of ''Winnie the Pooh'' and ''Cinderella.''

"This is the biggest fairy tale I have ever seen," Inman said. "It's a bad law. It will never become effective. ... The federal government will never grant us this authority. It has never done it in the past. ... It's not going to do it now."

Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, said the proposal unnecessarily tinkered with the nation's health care finance system because its proponents don't like President Barack Obama.

"You can dislike the president all you want. You can politicize that all you want. But to make changes in our law because of political dislike or belief or emotion is not the right way to go about changing our statutes," he said.

Eric O'Keefe, chairman of the national organization pushing the proposal, said Oklahomans would do a better job of determining how to distribute health care money.

"I think the people of Oklahoma, through their Legislature, would do a better job than the federal bureaucracy," he said. "Taking care of our people is not something to be delegated to folks 1,500 miles away."

"The question for Oklahomans is are you better off being taxed and sending your money to Washington and having it come back with strings on it, or just keeping it and running it internally?"

O'Keefe said he figures it will take about 20 state legislatures accepting the compact to force the issue in Congress. That could happen as soon as March, although it may take another congressional election cycle for the votes to be there.

If the proposal is approved by Congress, each of the states would have to approve the compact again.

He said no comparable example exists of a federally funded program that leaves so many details to the states.

"This is an extremely ambitious proposal, deliberately so," he said. "It would be a huge surrender of power and money from the federal government. It would only happen under political and financial duress.

"The financial duress is coming, no matter what we do. The political pressure we're working with grass-roots folks to create," O'Keefe said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


What would a Health Care Compact do?
If approved by Congress, the compact would mean federal funding for health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid would be sent to the states as block grants.

The states would be guaranteed as much funding as they received in 2010 adjusted annually for inflation and population changes.

The states would be released from federal health care regulations, including the federal health care initiative and U.S. Food and Drug Administration restrictions on drugs. States could agree to follow federal laws or design their own systems.

Veterans Affairs hospitals and Indian Health Care facilities would not be affected by the change.

[Conan71]

Don't states administer Medicaid now as it is with federal and state funding combined?

I agree dealing with this on a state by state basis might have the appearance of making it easier to administer, but trying to claim there's any less bureaucratic red tape on the state level is laughable.

[Hoss]

Don't states administer Medicaid now as it is with federal and state funding combined?

I agree dealing with this on a state by state basis might have the appearance of making it easier to administer, but trying to claim there's any less bureaucratic red tape on the state level is laughable.

It's all about state's rights to the people in this part of the country.  CSA lives on!!!

[guido911]

Don't states administer Medicaid now as it is with federal and state funding combined?

I agree dealing with this on a state by state basis might have the appearance of making it easier to administer, but trying to claim there's any less bureaucratic red tape on the state level is laughable.

Still, funny how that whole "Tenth Amendment" thingy is out there.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."