The Norman Transcript

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January 12, 2013

Time to move on

The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — Like it or not, parts of the national Affordable Care Act are beginning to take effect. Expansion of Medicare eligibility was rejected by our governor as was the building of an insurance exchange network. But provisions requiring proof of insurance or penalties will take hold next year.

Two Oklahoma lawmakers won’t give up the fight. They plan to continue their battle against the health care law which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is legal. Rep. Mike Ritze and Sen. Nathan Dahm, both Broken Arrow Republicans, have filed legislation they say will stop the Act from taking effect in Oklahoma.

Sen. Dahm has said he wants a health care system based on the free market. That’s fine until an uninsured person who earns minimum wage at a job that doesn’t offer health insurance benefits shows up at a rural hospital and needs health care.

If they can’t recover their costs, that physician and hospital will pass along the costs to its cash and insurance-paying patients.

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