Oklahoma Delegation Opposes Unfunded Mandates in Health Care Bill
WASHINGTON - Oklahoma’s House Delegation is urging Speaker Pelosi to exclude any unfunded federal mandates from the final health care bill. In a letter to the Speaker, the House Delegation said the unfunded Medicaid mandates in the House-passed bill would have a crippling effect on the state of Oklahoma. “As a delegation, we are deeply concerned this mandate would force drastic funding cuts for valuable state programs and significantly deteriorate the choice and quality of Oklahomans’ health care programs,” they wrote.
The House-passed health care bill, opposed by Oklahoma’s entire House delegation, contained provisions that would expand Medicaid eligibility to 133 percent of the federal poverty line. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of this expansion to be $26 billion, which would amount to a $128 million annual expense for the state of Oklahoma.
“The state of Oklahoma simply cannot afford to pay for the cost of this bill,” said Congresswoman Mary Fallin (OK-05), who noted that state revenue had fallen 31 percent below projections in December and statewide programs had been cut ten percent. “I want Speaker Pelosi to know this unfunded mandate will surely break the bank in our state and reduce the quality and availability of programs in Oklahoma. States should have the freedom to pursue the programs that work best for them.”
Fallin said she was also concerned the unfunded mandates would stifle the growth of Insure Oklahoma, a partnership program specifically designed to provide affordable health care coverage for Oklahoma’s families and small businesses who can’t afford quality coverage. Some 20 insurance providers offer about 400 products to enrolees. “These are the types of affordable health care choices Oklahoman taxpayers support,” said Fallin. “It’s not fair to ask them to finance backroom deals exempting other states while the quality of our own program suffers.”
Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) said, “At a time when our state is facing cuts to vital programs for Oklahomans, allowing additional unfunded federal mandates will only make an already difficult budgeting situation worse. Health care reform should consist of cost-conscious reforms that empower patients and improve care -- not sweetheart deals that create winners and losers out of our state governments.”
Congressman John Sullivan (OK-01) commented, “Simply put, health care reform should lower health care costs not raise them for Oklahoma families and our state. Unfortunately, the Democrat health care bills contain several unfunded mandates on state budgets and tremendous costs that will drive up our nation’s debt and limit access to quality health care. Oklahomans deserve an honest and open debate on this trillion dollar government takeover of our healthcare system and it’s time to scrap these bills and start over.”
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