Oklahoma tried to jump on the bandwagon of health care reform 10 years ago. Unfortunately, it was the wrong bandwagon. Since the creation of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority in 1994, the state has been flirting with a Clinton-style health care system which has disrupted patients, health care providers, and the state budget. Oklahoma is now at a crossroads in health care. It can continue down the health care road it has taken for the past 10 years, or it can choose a consumer-oriented health care system. The OHCA road has led to higher costs, more regulation and oversight, reduced access, and fleeing doctors. Putting consumers in charge and minimizing regulations will lower costs, increase access, bring doctors back into the system and improve quality-just like every other sector of the economy in which consumers are in control.

-From OCPA's 2002 book Oklahoma Policy Blueprint: An Action Plan for Advancing Economic and Educational Freedom