Why Oklahoma's delegation said no

By Chris Casteel

Published: August 8, 2007

WASHINGTON — When both houses of Congress last week approved a major expansion of government-funded health care for children, Oklahoma's delegation opposed it.

Only three states' entire delegations opposed it. Wyoming's and Idaho's were the others, but Wyoming has one U.S. House member and Idaho has only two. Oklahoma has five — four Republicans and one Democrat. Oklahoma's senators are Republicans.

Though Oklahoma has one of the highest rates of uninsured children in the nation, members of the Oklahoma delegation gave various reasons for opposing the bill that would expand eligibility for the child health insurance program to more families.

Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, called the bill "a poorly disguised step toward socialized medicine.” She also criticized cuts to Medicare included in the bill to help pay for the program.

• Coburn

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, a physician, cited a congressional study that shows raising the income limit for eligibility would lead some parents to drop their children from private health plans and enroll them in the government program, which is funded with federal and state money.

And, he said, because Oklahoma has an increasing number of doctors who won't see Medicaid patients, there will be more children waiting to see fewer physicians.

Coburn offered an amendment to the Senate bill to make it easier for eligible families to get money from the State Children's Health Insurance Program to pay their private insurance premiums. That amendment failed.

• Boren

Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, cited the bill's proposed increase in cigarette taxes: "While I am very supportive of many of the programs contained in the bill, the expansion of SCHIP is being funded by a regressive tax that places an undue burden on many of the low-income families in eastern Oklahoma.”

• Cole

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, said the bill would "slash funding from popular Medicare programs for the elderly.” The House bill would cut federal subsidies for Medicare Advantage payments. The payments, for private managed-care plans, average about 12 percent more per beneficiary than traditional Medicare.

Ivan Holmes, chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, blasted Coburn and Sen. Jim Inhofe of Tulsa for voting against the bill, saying they had chosen the "tobacco lobby” over the children.

The Senate bill would raise the federal tax on cigarettes by 61 cents per pack, to $1. The House bill would raise the cigarette tax to 84 cents per pack.

But neither Coburn nor Inhofe cited the tax hike as the reason for opposing the bill.

Boren, the delegation's only Democrat, did.

AARP

AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, praised the Medicare provisions and criticized lawmakers who voted against the House bill.

AARP Chief Executive Bill Novelli said, "This legislation helps older Americans, helps kids and helps doctors; it is opposed by the tobacco and insurance companies. Who are the American people going to side with?”

The bill also is supported by such groups as the American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society, Families USA and the American Public Health Association.

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