Attorney General Scott Pruitt continues his futile attempt to have it declared unconstitutional. Gov. Mary Fallin refuses to accept our tax dollars back from Washington, D.C., to cover Oklahomans most in need of health coverage. Insurance Commissioner John Doak calls the ACA a “disaster,” and although his agency has received a federal grant to inform […]
affordable care act
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Another Hobby Lobby question
If Hobby Lobby is successful, will a Jewish-owned company still have to honor Christmas and Easter as holidays? Just asking. —John Buckley, Norman
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Questioning Hobby Lobby
If it is, then perhaps they have some justification for denial of health insurance coverage of emergency contraception (although one wonders how many other sanctimonious prescriptions their employees would have to obey). If it is not, then their claim that their religious freedom would be violated by the ACA is nothing but a hollow pretense […]
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None dare call it ‘expansion’
Credit: Brad Gregg The Affordable Care Act, you might recall, allows states to get federal funds to expand Medicaid coverage for people earning less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Such a move would provide health insurance for almost 200,000 uninsured Oklahomans, but Gov. Mary Fallin rejected the federal dollars late last year. […]
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Crossing Obamacare
The Christian faith of Hobby Lobby’s sole owners, the Green family, is as ubiquitous as the Christian pop songs on the chain’s satellite radio station. All stores close on Sundays, and full-page newspaper ads quoting scripture have become a tradition on Christian holidays. Mardel, a smaller chain under the same ownership, specializes in Christian merchandise. […]
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Coverage controversy
Protesters push for Medicaid expansion at a Feb. 5 rally at the state Capitol. Credit: Mark Hancock Oklahoma currently ranks near the bottom among states in terms of wellness. Both opponents and advocates of an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program say action is required to improve the state’s health. Fallin and other state leaders […]
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The truth of emergency contraception
New rules under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, require contraception coverage without cost to women as part of basic health care coverage. Despite overwhelming evidence that the ability to plan and space pregnancies critically impacts a woman’s health and the health of her children, many employers, most notably the Oklahoma City-based Hobby […]
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A tax cut to die for
Fallin claims income tax cuts will make us more “competitive,” but our economy (fueled by federal spending and high oil and agriculture prices) grew at the third-highest rate nationally in the past decade. Betting our future on continued high oil prices is the definition of insanity. Texas is ranked No. 1 nationally as a business-friendly […]
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Medicaid expansion is affordable, and vital
Under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, the federal government will pay the lion’s share of the cost for Oklahoma to extend SoonerCare coverage to most uninsured low-income adults. This would provide coverage to about 150,000 residents living near the poverty level. Expanding Medicaid would cut Oklahoma County’s uninsured population nearly in half, with more […]
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Lobby for a loophole
Credit: Brad Gregg The Green family, founders and owners of the OKC-based company, don’t want to provide their employees insurance coverage for birth control — namely the morning-after pill — that they believe is tantamount to abortion. As a result, Hobby Lobby is facing $1.3 million in fines for each day it fails to comply […]