The consultants recommended accepting federal Medicaid-expansion funding but using it to underwrite private insurance purchases for poor Oklahomans. SB 640 would have given these citizens a choice of private insurance or the present SoonerCare insurance plan. The Leavitt Partners wanted to push eligible clients to use the ACA’s health-insurance exchange and Indian Health Services. SB […]
obamacare
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Getting real
Credit: Brad Gregg His reasoning? Well, as much as he’d “love” to kill the omnibus measure, Coburn just doesn’t think it’s sound political strategy. “I’d be leading the charge if I thought this would work, but it will not work,” he said. “It’s a denial of reality mixed with a whole bunch of hype to […]
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Poor logic on Hobby Lobby decision
According to a majority of the 10th Circuit, the businesses owned by the Green family are religious “persons,” and, therefore, can have the benefit of RFRA. But the court’s reasoning is utterly divorced from RFRA’s history and the larger context of federal law generally. It is critical to understand that due to the doctrine of […]
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Hobby Lobby deserves protection
After the U.S. Supreme Court decided to no longer strictly scrutinize most laws that substantially burden religious liberty, outraged people of all ideological hues vowed to restore the legal protection refused by the court. The Senate passed the bill 97-3. The House passed it unanimously. RFRA instructs courts to invalidate any law or government action […]
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Time to inform, not denounce
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 […]
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In _____ we trust
Illustration: Brad Gregg What Oklahoman readers didn’t see was a full-page counter-ad released by Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit committed to preserving the separation of church and state. While Hobby Lobby’s “In God We Trust” ad included quotes from presidents, founding fathers, Supreme Court rulings and even “foreigners” (their words), FFRF’s “In Reason We […]
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The good, the bad and the goofy
In other words: situation normal. Thirty-six months from now, you’ll enjoy an average tax reduction of 35 cents a day. Gov. Mary Fallin says that is necessary for Oklahoma to be more attractive to business decision-makers. Thirty-five cents daily more in our pockets with an effective date of 2016 doesn’t meet the smell test. Regardless, […]
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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. […]